Poo, puns, and matcha green tea desserts: this is gonna be FUN!

Nara is one of the best travel destinations in Japan. The city boasts historic temples, beautiful gardens, and, of course, herds of tame deer that roam the city. Oh, and when it’s time to eat, everyone knows that when you’re in Nara you’ve got to try the…umm…huh.

Just about every region of Japan boasts some kind of special delicacy, and often several, as our list of the very best regional eats in Japan proves. Nara is an unusual exception, though, as it’s one of the only major sightseeing spots in Japan that doesn’t have a distinct, representative dish.

If you’re looking for dessert, though, there is a way to get a literal taste of Nara’s local culture at Daibutsu Ichigo, a snack stand along the main road that runs between Nara Station and Nara Park. The special frozen treat is called the Fun Fun Soft Serve Ice Cream, and oh boy is it loaded with fun!

Daibutsu Ichigo starts things off with a swirl of vibrant matcha green tea ice cream, which it spruces up with a heavy concentration of chocolate-covered puffed wheat near the base.

These continue up the spire, and following their tracks leads you to…

…the butt of a deer-shaped cookie. Why the butt? Because the Fun Fun Soft Serve Ice Cream doesn’t get its name because it’s “fun” in the sense of “entertaining,” but because fun is the Japanese word for animal droppings.

Yes the Fun Fun Soft Serve Ice Cream is an edible recreation of a day in the life of a deer: walking through grassy fields and hills, all leaving piles of poo pellets behind you.

But you know what? It’s still delicious.

▼ Our taste tester, Masami, eating “poo” and loving it.

Oh, and if you’re onboard for the ice cream and deer cookie, but prefer your desserts to have no mental connection to fecal matter, there’s also Daibutsu Ichigo’s strawberry-loaded Ichigo Zukushi, though the Fun Fun, at 350 yen (US$3.20), is 150 yen cheaper.

By combining cute animals, green tea, and a pun, the Fun Fun Soft Serve Ice Cream gets full marks for Japanese-ness, and is a great choice should you find yourself in a quandary regarding what to eat in Nara. Just make sure you don’t feed any of the for-humans dessert to the actual deer, especially in light of some of the unfortunate things one of the poor animals recently ate.

Shop information
Daibutsu Ichigo / 大仏いちご
Nara-ken, Nara-shi, Kamisanjocho 4-1
奈良県奈良市上三条町4の1
Opens 10 a.m. (closing time varies daily)

Photos ©SoraNews24
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