BY KAINE ENE

Last Thursday, I got to eat a perfectly glazed donut and a cupcake of my favorite flavor: Oreo. Both were from Market Day, and I was pleasantly surprised by the donut being free, and the Oreo cupcake being around $1.50. I doubt the donut was supposed to be free, as it was given to me by a friend passing by in the hallway. Don’t worry, your name is safe. As amazing as the sweets were, the best part of Market Day was getting to talk to and see the faces behind the food that put smiles on our faces. I was particularly interested in something done that most young entrepreneurs wouldn’t think of doing: the $1 wedding cake raffle from ‘Cole’s Confections.’ It was run by Cole Mountain, Grace Torpey, and Nevaya, who’s last name I unfortunately didn’t get. Other than a four-foot wedding cake made by Mountain’s Michelin Star-certified mom, I was curious to see what else his confections had to offer that his competitors didn’t.

“Low prices, they’re actually fair,” he said. “One of these people [is] selling a milkshake for nine dollars.”

“That’s…insanity,” Torpey added with a laugh. 

“None of my products cost more than two dollars.” After a moment, Mountain added: “Oh, everything I make is also homemade.” As aforementioned, I got to try one of their Oreo cupcakes, but it’s actually a little more than that. “My sister actually started selling Oreo cupcakes a few years before, but what she would do is make the Oreos inside,” Mountain said.  “I kinda took inspiration from that and decided on a Halloween aesthetic, and I just put the Oreo on top to make it look like a spider.” It’s delicious. But I’m biased. As for what drew my attention to Mountain and his team in the first place, the wedding cake raffle, it turns out he was originally going to sell wedding cakes for fifty bucks. “I realized I would make multiple wedding cakes and I got tired. So really I just wanted to look for an easy way I could give the luckiest person the wedding cake,” he said.

It’s always good to take a break with some good sweets, or even show up to class with one to show off to your friends. Though there was something else being sold that day that caught my attention. ‘International Flair,’ run by Tony Recarte, Anthony Ulberg, Addison Jacoby, and Salani Leau-Fiso were selling a treat called ‘Dulces Enchilados.’  It looked as sweet as I’d like, but it also looked spicy and red? Inspired by social media, Recarte decided to bring this one, and he was still yet to try it.

“It was like a hispanic thing,” Recarte explained after the event. “You can grab any kind of candy, and then you grab this almost sauce or paste—it’s called chamoy. It’s really tart, and I don’t know, it’s really good; I like it a lot. I covered it in Taijin and stuff, and it’s really sweet, a little spicy [and/or] tart, but I love it. A lot of people did too.” Recarte decided to make this all by hand as people looked at him funny, but it’s good to hear that it seemed to be worth it. Recarte isn’t the only star of ‘International Flair,’ as everyone had to bring something, and most did. “We all brought different things, Anthony was supposed to bring MoonPies, Salani brought this pineapple drink—it’s a Samoan drink—Vaifala, [and] Addy brought pumpkin pies.”

 Sure enough, all of these things are present on the Market Day website, except for one: Moonpies. In its place is pozole, a soup made from hominy and meat, but I didn’t get to find out whether or not Ulberg made/brought this instead. Regardless, there’s something sweet (and spicy) about four teenagers coming together to sell foods and drinks originating from different places outside the U.S, even if it’s just a few. I’d personally like to try the Enchilados and Vaifala, which at least isn’t nine dollars.

It’s been almost two weeks since Market Day, and I can’t wait for next year. We need more lovingly made desserts at low prices like ‘Cole’s Confections,’ and diverse and intriguing treats like ‘International Flair.’ The website is still up if you want to sit and stare at the various foods made by  Truman High School students. What a sight!