Who and What is Rasta Pops?
It’s not summertime in Bloomington until you see the Rasta Pops pushcart, serving delicious Brazilian fusion pops around town. Brazilian-born Iuri Santos owns the business along with his wife Linda, combining American and Brazilian flavors to create these delicious treats available from May to September.
THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING TASTY
Linda and Iuri met in the Brazilian city of Salvador. Soon after, they were married and moved to Bloomington, Indiana. More than a decade later, while the couple walked through a Bloomington park, Iuri got the idea for Rasta Pops while thinking back on the popularity of popsicle vendors in Brazil.
In Brazil, there are “picolé” vendors walking around with coolers full of popsicles around their necks. According to Linda, walking around the park on that hot day gave her husband the idea to do this very thing in Indiana.
Although Rasta Pops serves classic American flavors like Strawberry Lemonade, they also have unique flavors such as mango-chili-lime, spicy chocolate with Cayenne pepper, and honey-ginger-lemonade.
The company also partners with other local businesses to highlight unique Bloomington flavors in their pops including the Hopscotch Coffee Thai espresso pops. Their newest flavor set to be on sale soon is the MeSorrel Jamaican Tea pop, made from Bloomington’s Dreamers Delight tea.
AN ALL-NATURAL PROGRESSION
Rasta Pops prides itself on its natural approach to the popsicle business, using organic products wherever possible and local produce when available. The couple also uses biodegradable packaging and composts food scraps from the manufacturing process.
“The reason our pops are so good is because they’re fresh fruit. We squeeze all the limes and lemons by hand ourselves, and it all goes in there fresh,” Linda says. “We like to use those really high-quality ingredients.”
Except for in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rasta Pops’ business has steadily increased every year since its opening, according to Linda. And as for 2021, “This has been our biggest year yet,” she says. But the company doesn’t want growth to change how they make their product in the future.
NEW BEGINNINGS
In June of 2019, controversy shrouded the Bloomington Community Farmers' Market when the owners of Schooner Creek Farm, one of the market’s vendors, was alleged to have ties to a white supremacist group.
Many residents and fellow vendors, including the Santos’, called for the removal of Schooner Creek Farm from the market. Later that month, the city decided not to remove the farm vendor. This prompted Rasta Pops, along with several other vendors, to host their own “hate-free” market later that summer.
“If you don't feel safe at the city market,” Rasta Pops said in a 2019 Facebook post advertising the alternative market, “this is your opportunity to support local farmers who won't sell at a city market that includes white supremacists.”
Today, Rasta Pops no longer attends the Bloomington Community Farmers' Market and can be found every Saturday at the People’s Co-op Market. The People’s Market, of which Linda Santos is on the planning committee, strives to “work towards intersectional anti-racism, create space for food justice work, create meaningful collaborations, build equity, cultivate liberation, and ensure access to local food, art, and education.”
WHERE TO FIND
Besides the People’s Market, Rasta Pops can be found this summer at Food Truck Fridays in Bloomington. They also post daily updates on where to find them on Instagram and Facebook!
