Made in L.A., Inspired by Taiwan: Local Plant-Based Ice Cream Goes National
Alice Cherng and Belinda Wei's first meeting, over a scoop of black sesame ice cream, foreshadowed their foodie friendship and business to come. Cherng was dining at a raw vegan restaurant The Springs in the Arts District, where Wei was a pastry chef, grinding her own seeds to make black sesame powder.
"Black sesame was the first Asian ice cream flavor I was doing there and it wasn't on the menu yet," Wei says. "I was just messing around in the kitchen and I sent her a scoop." Wei and Cherng had heard about each other through mutual friends, but this was their first time meeting in real life.
"She had garnished it with beautiful edible flowers, and I was delightfully surprised," Cherng says. The two became fast friends, going on vegan food crawls and searching for the best shaved ice in Los Angeles. "We definitely bonded over our mutual love for food, with an extra fondness for Asian food," Cherng says. "Our friendship was forged through eating out."
"I'm a recovering sugarholic," Wei confesses. "So we always had to have dessert. One of the reasons I love Alice so much is that when we talk to each other, we empower our ideas and get really excited for each other. That is something I super admire about her." The two were never quite satisfied with the vegan dessert options they found, though. Three years later, after many indulgent meals and late night conversations, the two opened an ice cream shop together in Hollywood, Dear Bella Creamery, where all flavors and toppings are 100% plant-based.
The Taiwanese American co-founders specialize in unusual flavors inspired by their Asian American heritage. "What makes us who we are is our background as Asian American and Chinese American," Cherng says. "We are always living in between those two worlds and our food reflects that; It's a little of our Chinese background but having influences from American food too. Our flavors will always be a little bit of both."
Taiwanese pineapple cake is a favorite flavor, and the classic Taiwanese dessert originated in Belinda's father's hometown of Taichung City. You won't find any Taiwanese brands offering vegan pineapple cake, but Cherng and Wei make their own twice-baked buttery shortcake filled with soy-free vegan butter-roasted pineapple jam to crumble into their ice cream base, which has extra pineapple jam swirled throughout. Earlier this year, they even served an adventurously spicy and savory dan dan noodle ice cream flavor in collaboration with Fly By Jing chili crisp to celebrate Lunar New Year.
Black sesame — the flavor that started it all — still has a cult following at Dear Bella, and it's excellent paired with red bean ice cream, a nostalgic flavor found in many desserts. The red bean ice cream is made using sweetened adzuki beans and swirled with a housemade red bean sauce to amplify the red bean flavor, elevating what they grew up with. Wei grew up in Texas but black sesame tang yuan and steamed buns filled with red bean paste were staples in her household.
"Red bean is in every quintessential Chinese dessert," Cherng says. "It's like peanut butter — it's in everything. Probably the most iconic dessert is red bean soup, but if you go to a bakery in Taiwan, it seems like all the pastries are filled with red bean too. And during summers in Taiwan, the red bean popsicles you can get at 7/11 are amazing. I was really thinking of that popsicle when we developed our red bean ice cream."
For spring, mango sticky rice ice cream makes a comeback after a year long hiatus. This one is inspired by the mango shaved ice that Cherng enjoyed growing up in Taiwan before immigrating to Los Angeles when she was eight.
"I remember as a kid, my brother and I would be dragging our feet, semi-asleep going with my grandmother to the food market in the early morning," she says. "At the end of the trip, sometimes she'd treat us to shaved ice, from a man sitting in the alley who was making shaved ice from the kind of big plastic tub that kids take baths in. The shaved ice would come with fresh mango chunks and a heavy drizzle of condensed milk. My brother and I would share it sitting on these tiny stools in the alley."
For Dear Bella's ice cream iteration, they churn a sticky rice-infused coconut ice cream base with dollops of sweet sticky rice and swirls of chunky mango jam. For both women, this ice cream is reminiscent of a beloved Taiwanese dessert, while also an ode to neighboring Hollywood's landscape of incredible Thai cuisine.
We're bridging Taiwanese flavors we grew up enjoying with flavors familiar to Angelenos.Belinda Wei, Co-founder of Dear Bella Creamery
"We're bridging Taiwanese flavors we grew up enjoying with flavors familiar to Angelenos," Wei says.
Not all of Dear Bella's ice cream is Asian-influenced though. The duo also draws inspiration from around the world. Some other spring highlights include halva, a toasted tahini ice cream folded with roasted pistachios, and royal tea time — earl gray tea ice cream with buttery shortbread tea cookie pieces and ribbons of orange blossom caramel.
Even American classics like cookies and cream get a unique twist at Dear Bella. Cookie Monsta is their most popular flavor, named for the beloved Sesame Street character. This version of cookies and cream features two types of homemade chocolate cookies and a cookie butter base dyed bright blue with blue spirulina for a superfood alternative to food coloring. The eye-catching color is popular with kids and adults alike.
Up until now, Dear Bella's delicious small-batch ice cream has only been available at their Hollywood scoop shop but starting May 1 they'll begin shipping nationally through their own website. After receiving countless comments on Instagram asking if they shipped pints, Wei and Cherng spent a year researching manufacturing and shipping logistics to find the right combination of inserts, dry ice and insulated liners so the ice cream would arrive safe and not melted, with a reasonable shipping price.
