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Piragua (food)

A piragua Spanish pronunciation: [piˈɾa.ɣwa][1] is a Puerto Rican shaved ice dessert, shaped like a cone, consisting of shaved ice and covered with fruit-flavored syrup. Piraguas are sold by vendors, known as piragüeros, from small, traditionally brightly-colored pushcarts offering a variety of flavors. Besides Puerto Rico, piraguas can be found in mainland areas of the United States with large Puerto Rican communities, such as New York and Central Florida.

Course

Dessert

Puerto Rico

Frozen

  • Shaved ice
  • fruit‑flavored syrup

The painting Carrito de Piraguas ("Piragua Pushcart") is a mixed media piece by an unknown artist, on exhibit at in New York.[14]

El Museo del Barrio

Artist Iván Moura Limardo created a series of piragua-related paintings, including Piragüero 5 and Piragüero 10, which were displayed at the Siena Art Gallery in .[15]

San Juan, Puerto Rico

The town of , commissioned the creation of a monument in the honor of the piragüeros. The statue, which is called Monumento al Piragüero, is located in the town plaza.[16]

Coamo, Puerto Rico

An educational storybook called Luisito and the Piragua, written in 1979 for children of in Connecticut, tells the story of a Puerto Rican boy who moved to the United States and misses his friends and his afternoon treat of a piragua. While on an errand for his mother, Luisito sees a piragüero making piraguas, and is happy to find that he can buy piraguas once more.[2]

migrant workers

The 2008 Broadway production of 's musical In the Heights included a song called "Piragua" and its reprise, in which a local piragüero (known in the play as Piragua Guy) sings about his life and trade in New York's Washington Heights.[17] This character became the basis for a web-based reality-show parody, Legally Brown: The Search for the Next Piragua Guy, directed by Miranda, which featured well-known Broadway actors competing to take over the role.[18] In the 2021 film adaptation, Miranda himself was cast in the supporting role of the Piragüero.[19]

Lin-Manuel Miranda

The Puerto Rican piragua has been the subject of paintings and sculpture, a children's book, and songs in a Broadway musical:

Little girl eating a piragua in Puerto Rico, 2008

Little girl eating a piragua in Puerto Rico, 2008

Girl with a parcha-flavored piragua in Puerto Rico

Girl with a parcha-flavored piragua in Puerto Rico

Monumento al Piragüero in Coamo, Puerto Rico

Monumento al Piragüero in Coamo, Puerto Rico

Customer posing with an older wooden piragua pushcart in Puerto Rico

Customer posing with an older wooden piragua pushcart in Puerto Rico

Man with piragua on Paseo de la Princesa

Man with piragua on Paseo de la Princesa

– Southeast Asian

Ais kacang

and Italian ice – Italian

Grattachecca

– Filipino

Halo halo

– Japanese

Kakigori

– Korean

Patbingsu

– Taiwanese

Tshuah-ping

– Hawaiian

Shave ice

– New Orleanian

Sno-ball

– American shaved ice

Snow cone

Other regional versions:

Piragua recipe

. PBS KIDS for Parents. September 1, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2022.

"Make Piragua to Share With a Friend!"