Mental Floss

I scream, Mangesh screams

By BY

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My husband was reading Mango's ode yesterday to the emperors of ice cream and volunteered a story about the sweet stuff served to new arrivals at Ellis Island: quite a few of them couldn't identify it, figured it was butter, and spread it on their toast. What's Cooking America confirms this little tale, and also provides the following creamy facts:

  • In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt publicly confessed that he liked to have ice cream at least once a day.
  • During World War I (1914-1918), ice cream played a role as a propaganda tool and morale builder. A German officer, when asked about America's involvement in the war, said that "We do not fear that nation of ice cream eaters."
  • The biggest ice cream sundae ever made was 12 feet high and made with 4,667 gallons of ice cream and 7,000 pounds of toppings in Anaheim, California during 1985.
  • During World War II, the Eighth Air Force unit chose the Popsicle as a symbol of American life.