No milk, sugar: Venezuelans lose prized ice cream to crisis

In 1991, just a decade after opening and a world away from plain old vanilla, the Heladeria Coromoto got an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for providing the most flavours of any ice cream parlour in the world -- at the time, 386. But Manuel, a Portuguese immigrant, continued to innovate and play with people's tastebuds. Black bean ice cream soon followed, chilli, beetroot.. up to a staggering 860 flavours. The shop quickly became a key attraction in Merida, an Andean city of 450,000 which is also known for having the world's highest cable-car ride, 4,765 metres above sea-level. Now it comes highly recommended in tourist guides such as Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor. But Venezuela's deepening economic crisis since the collapse of crude oil prices in 2014 meant it became an ordeal to source raw materials over the last few years. More…