Ice Cream For Everybody

Do you like ice cream? I do. I am not fanatical about it like so many people are and eat it only once in a while. More than a few people eat too much, and at the other extreme there is even an "ice cream diet' that promise to make you slim if you eat enough ice cream. Then there are the health food nuts who eat soy or rice ice cream , at least they call that ice cream. I do not. For me, real ice cream is cream, milk, sugar, and fruit or other natural flavors. People argue about the best ice cream, whether ice cream can be real if of soft consistency, the origin of it and more. I am not doing that here. If you like it and you call it ice cream, enjoy it. Just give me mine and the world's most popular flavor, vanilla, and I will smile.

If I asked you to tell me which nation has the highest per capita consumption of ice cream you might say "Germany" or "the United States', since those two countries have the most fat people per capita. Or perhaps you would name a nation that has blistering hot weather. But the answer is surprising. The U.S. is first at 23 liters per person, but Australians and New Zealanders consume about 20 liters each.

There are some weird ice cream imitators. For example, in China Mung beans are macerated into a paste and boiled together with milk and sugar. The result is called ice cream. I guess it is, but I don't want to eat that. In India and Pakistan they have Kulfi, which is a kind of condensed milk based , non aerated ice cream. Or you could try Dondurma, Turkish ice cream made out of salep and mastic resin...uh, sounds not very delicious. There are versions but what is more fascinating is the kinds of ice cream flavors.

According to the Guinness Book of Records the ice cream store that sells the most flavors is Coromoto in Merida, Venezuela. It seems the owner is a Portuguese (they eat allot of ice cream there) immigrant who was enamored with making different flavors that the traditional ice cream factory for which he worked, would not allow. Yes they have vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Even I make those flavors in my ice cream maker. But Coromoto Parlor says it makes and sells 860 different ice cream flavors.

Each day about 60 of those are sold. How about trying these few, for example: chili, tomato, gherkin, onion, mushrooms in wine, garlic, cream of crab, avocado, eggs, macaroni cheese, sardines-in-brandy, Cointreau, cognac, vodka-and-pineapple and muy picante (a traditional Venezuelan meal of beef, rice, plantain, cheese and black beans in ice cream form..yuk!)There is even a Viagra ice cream that any man ought to order to please himself..err her. It's bright blue like those Viagra pills. (Oh, I need a double scoop of that one!)

But alas! Viagra ice cream is just regular ice cream with honey and pollen added. I think nothing to get "big headed" about.