Struth! National Ice Cream Day lick-starts US dairy industry

 

PRESIDENTIAL ICE CREAM LICKS THE PROBLEM

David Ellis

WHEN President Ronald Reagan proclaimed July of 1984 to be National Ice Cream Month, and the third Sunday of that month to be National Ice Cream Day, there were those who suggested that maybe the President had lost the plot.

But it was, in fact, the result of some very clever political lobbying by the American dairying and ice cream industries, both of which were hurting from then-tough economic times, and desperately needing a kick-start to help them get moving again.

And it paid off. Sales of ice cream and frozen dessert products across America skyrocketed – not just during 1984's National Ice Cream Month and Day, but for years to come, ballooning from a modest 3,357 million litres of their products worth the equivalent of 4.6 billion in Aussie dollar terms back in 1984, to an astonishing 5.8 billion litres of sales worth a staggering AU$51 billion this year. That's right, billion. And in a year.

The industry dreamed-up new flavours too, so while old-faithfuls like vanilla, choc chip, Neapolitan and rocky road will always be there, in America you can also tuck into such bizarre unknowns to us as bacon flavoured ice cream, crab, garlic, oyster, squid ink, strawberry-rhubarb, honey roasted peanut butter, grape and nut, and caramel cheesecake flavoured ice creams – to name a few.

And one of the most off-beat of all, Superman Ice Cream that was created in a store in Michigan in the super-hero's colours: a swirl of blue, red and yellow, with the blue being vanilla flavoured, the red cherry flavoured and the yellow banana flavoured.

All whipped together and served rainbow-like in a cone or cup, or as a separate scoop of each piled into those cones or cups.

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PHOTO CAPTION:

[] JUST some of the many flavours and colours of ice creams in America today, ranging from traditional vanilla, choc chip and rocky road to such bizarre creations as bacon-flavoured, crab, garlic, oyster, strawberry-rhubarb, grape and nut, and sweet caramel cheesecake flavoured.  (Wikimedia)

[] SUPERMAN Ice Cream dreamed up by the owner of an ice cream shop in Michigan USA, and offered as a swirl of the super-hero's colours of blue, red and yellow in cone or cup, or as three individual scoops in those colours with the blue being vanilla flavoured, the red cherry flavoured and the yellow banana. (Wikipedia)