How a Simple Ancient Sweet Traveled from Harems to Street Carts

The journey of cannoli across centuries and continents

My first cannolo. The photo is owned by the author.

Just a few steps from our sixth-floor apartment, there are four food trucks. We can see them from our window. Every day, we see them opening and setting up for the day. Soon, people arrive, some alone, others in groups of two, three, or five. They chat, laugh, and enjoy their meals under the open sky.

The trucks sell a variety of foods — Indian, Argentine, Italian, and Filipino. There used to be one for shawarma too, but now that’s gone to some other place.

Once a week, we treat ourselves to a meal from one of the trucks. It’s usually on Friday evening after a week of simple, home-cooked food. It’s our little weekly indulgence.

While the food scene is the same every day near these trucks, it changes when a small cart joins. The cart is attached to a cycle and is very common in Copenhagen. People use them to carry children. But this one is different.

A lady owns it. She comes only a few times every year. The moment we see her from our window, we don’t care about what day of the week it is. We just go down and join the crowd in a long queue for the delicious treats she brings in her cart.