Their intentions were probably in the right place, but this week Paul's Homemade Ice-cream found themselves having to right their wrong after launching a burfee-infused ice cream stick.
Taking to Instagram, the artisanal ice cream brand with stores in Joburg and Durban, introduced their customers to their latest creation.
The post read: “The people have spoken. Introducing South Africa’s burfee-infused ice cream stick with chunks of decadent homemade burfee.
“Rich creamy ice cream infused with rose water and cardamom swirled with pieces of dense homemade burfee. Each ice cream stick is enrobed in Belgian white chocolate with a final flourish of coloured almonds.
“To the lady who haunted our DMs for Indian-inspired ice cream… You, my friend, are a genius.”
Social media users soon flooded Paul's comments section with remarks stating that the product was not South Africa’s first burfee-infused ice cream, and that in fact, small businesses had been contributing to the market years before.
Award-winning researcher and writer Aaisha Dadi Patel joined the conversation and noted that to “call this ’South Africa’s first burfee-infused ice cream stick’ is disingenuous.”
Dadi Patel tweeted: “I like Paul’s, but to call this 'South Africa’s first burfee-infused ice cream stick’ is disingenuous. It hugely erases the contributions of many (largely women, POC owned) small businesses, especially ones to whose culture burfee belongs. Representation is good, erasure is not.”
I like Paul’s, but to call this “South Africa’s first burfee-infused ice cream stick” is disingenuous. It hugely erases the contributions of many (largely women, POC owned) small businesses, especially ones to whose culture burfee belongs. Representation is good, erasure is not. pic.twitter.com/KiYrxzFQpb
— Aaisha Dadi Patel (@aaishadadipatel) October 9, 2020
Burfee or burfi is a dense milk-based sweet from the Indian subcontinent, and a type of mithai, which is usually enjoyed by South African Indians on special occasions.
According to Wikipedia, the name is a derivative of the Persian word barf, which means snow.
Within a few hours, Paul’s responded to the comments via their Instagram Stories after the massive outcry.
See their response below:
They even went as far as responding directly to individual comments.
Paul’s has since changed their original Instagram post after taking comments into consideration.