Ice Cream
I scream, you scream, Melanie Sovern screams for ice cream.
🍦 I’m back in Berlin for the last hot sticky days of summer and can’t think of a more appropriate Favorite Food interview for these sunny days.
Favorite Food interviews real people about their favorite food.
My grandma would give us each two scoops in these tiny but elegant dessert dishes, and we’d sit around the dining room table together scooping up every last bite.
Nothing quite says summer like ice cream. And nobody loves ice cream like Melanie Sovern.
Over several toasty days in Athens, I chat with Melanie about her unwavering love of ice cream over several scoops and swirls of the beloved frozen treat.
What's your favorite food?
I scream for ice cream!
This includes gelato, soft serve, and kulfi, but not sorbet, froyo, or Italian ices; I apologize to the Academy.
Why is this your favorite food?
Ice cream is the perfect dessert to fill in the cracks in your stomach at the end of a great (or even not-so-great) meal! And though it has fat in it, ice cream is still refreshing. I don’t care what the weather is, or what time of year it is–it’s always ice cream season. You always have room for ice cream, even when you can’t fit a cookie, slice of cake, cheese, etc. (Or at least, I do.)
The flavors are as diverse as you can imagine: you can go for a classic chocolate or vanilla, something more adventurous with toppings or mixed-in add-ons (brownie, nuts, spices), or something weird and random, like salted raw egg or eggplant. These days in New York, you can also get flavors from other countries and cultures, like turmeric, tamarind, durian, pandan, yuzu, ube, etc.
These days, ice cream can also be adapted to people’s individual health needs. Those who are lactose-intolerant or kosher can get dairy-free ice cream. People with diabetes can have sugar-free. And I know low-calorie ice cream exists, but I’d say the calories are always worth it. In fact, sometimes I’d say ice cream is actually good for my health; I’ve used it to quell indigestion, nausea, and acid reflux many times. There’s a reason the stereotype exists of the broken-hearted person eating ice cream from the pint to console themselves. Ice cream is healing, physically and emotionally!
Describe the perfect ice cream.
This truly depends on my mood, the vibes, and what I’ve eaten recently. Vanilla ice cream with a brownie is perfection. On a typical night at home, my go-to flavor is a pint of Graeter’s Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip (and I don’t even like actual raspberries that much). When I’m out and about, I like to try new and adventurous combinations, or things I can’t get elsewhere. Sometimes I’m in the mood for one of the wacky Ben & Jerry’s concoctions. And sometimes I just want some classic chocolatey chocolate.
Flavor profile aside: the perfect ice cream is creamy (even if it’s dairy-free), and strikes the balance between cold and refreshing, and not freezing your taste buds or giving you a headache. No freezer burn, of course. Maybe I’d say the perfect temperature is ice cream that is about to melt, but hasn’t yet. I enjoy cones, but usually go for a cup because then I get stressed about the ice cream leaking down the sides of the cone.
Any interesting facts about ice cream?
The origin of ice cream is hard to determine because all the evidence melted or was eaten. But we do know that ice cream cones were invented at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis! The legend is that a waffle seller pitched in when the ice cream vendor ran out of cups. Whether or not that’s true, they do make a great combination, even if I can’t be trusted not to make a mess with a cone.
According to Food Republic, Switzerland consumes the most ice cream per capita. But don’t worry, America–I’m pulling my weight
What’s one memory you have of ice cream?
When I was a teenager and would visit my grandparents in Connecticut, dinner every night would end with ice cream. My grandparents actually used to get pints of Graeters shipped on dry ice from Ohio to New York before it was available in grocery stores here. My grandpa would always microwave each pint for about 9 seconds–”nuking it,” as he called it–so it would be the perfect amount of melty right away. (I still stand by that for most frozen pints–about 8-12 seconds, depending on your ice cream, your freezer, and your microwave.)
My grandma would give us each two scoops in these tiny but elegant dessert dishes, and we’d sit around the dining room table together scooping up every last bite. My grandpa isn’t with us anymore, but my grandma and I still have Graeter’s together when I visit. And I have carried on the tradition at home, though I unashamedly eat directly from the pint that would be served in a cafeteria.
Where can I get the best ice cream?
I’m gonna have to break this down–
Pints to buy online:
Quality texture (French pot style): Graeter’s
Best Dark Chocolate: Jeni’s Darkest Chocolate
Most Decadent: Ben & Jerry’s
Best Indian Flavors: Malai
Bougiest (but worth the hype): Caffè Panna
Best Soft Serve: L’Industrie (limited flavors, but high quality)
Best brick and mortars in NYC:
Most flavors, including weirdest, but still great quality: Morgenstern’s in Greenwich Village
Bougiest: Caffè Panna in Gramercy (plan for a long wait in line)
Indian Flavors: Malai on the border Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens
Best Gelato: Il Laboratorio del Gelato on the Lower Easr Side, tied with L’Abero dei Gelati in Park Slope
Best uptown spot: Sugar Hill Creamery in Harlem and the Time Out Market in DUMBO
Chinese Flavors: Chinatown Ice Cream Factory in Chinatown
A Few Random Other Great Spots Around the World:
Gelateria del Porto in Antibes
Bi-Rite in San Francisco
Berthillon in Paris (go to the one on Île Saint Louis)
❤️ Thanks Melanie for this very sweet treat of an interview.
Great list at the end!