Would you eat ice cream in subzero temperatures? According to a YOUGOV analysis that looked at 3 big ice cream brands, 8.5 % of Americans purchase from Breyers, Haagen-Daaz, and Ben and Jerry’s in winter. As classes were shut down all across campus and individuals were advised to keep their windows closed, I went out into downtown Evanston to see if anybody else was in on the trend
Walking into Coldstone Creamery, I found two students, Brody Bundis and Tori Montinola, sitting
down at a table.
BRODY BUNDIS: We thought it’d be funny if we got ice cream on the coldest day of the year, so that’s just what we did.
JOHN KOWALSKI: So you’d say this was an intentional move?
BUNDIS: This was an intentional move, it wasn’t just like “I was feeling ice cream,” I specifically chose to do it for the bit.
TORI MONTINOLA: This was for the bit. I don’t eat ice cream at all. I’m also from a tropical country, so
we don’t get weather like this, and the fact that this is the coldest day in like years made it funnier.
Getting ice cream on a cold day did seem to be rather uncommon, as Talia Rose, a
worker at Kilwin’s, relayed to me.
TALIA ROSE: Not ice cream! Well, actually, there was one guy who bought it for his kids, and most people are just buying hot chocolate, but ice cream, no. I mean, it’s really cold so walking with a hot chocolate is probably the best way to go if you want to get a treat.
KOWALSKI: What about baked goods though? I asked Jack Truong of Insomnia cookies for his
insights.
JACK TRUONG: This day specifically no, but the past week we had a couple of ice cream orders actually, even though it was like maybe 20 or 30 degrees.Sometimes, even if it’s cold, people like have a sweet tooth, especially if it gets really cold outside, and they want to hang out.
With temperatures expected to get to -7 tonight, I personally don’t plan on having a scoop. But there are clearly plenty who will.
For WNUR News, I’m John Kowalski
