Is Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor Normal?

Some 7 percent of Americans say they like to eat their ice cream other than in a cup, cone, sundae or sandwich. Champagne ice cream floats and on pancakes would be two alternatives.

The Global Food Forums blog intends to cover a range of thoughtful, hopefully even profound, issues of the food industry. This blog, no doubt, addresses one of the most serious topics of the day. What do you prefer, vanilla or chocolate ice cream?

Now you can compare yourself to other Americas. Is your favorite ice cream flavor “normal?” Or is it a bit strange?
The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) says that based on ice cream consumption figures, the top five individual flavors in terms of share of segment in the United States are vanilla (27.8 percent), chocolate (14.3 percent), strawberry (3.3 percent), chocolate chip (3.3 percent) and butter pecan (2.8 percent). Source: IDFA/The NPD Group’s National Eating Trends In-Home Database.
However, a Harris Poll of 2,183 adults surveyed online between July 11 and 18, 2011, found that 28 percent of Americans say chocolate is one of their two favorite ice cream flavors, followed by 26 percent saying vanilla and 22 percent saying cookie dough/cookies and cream.
There are differences between regions of the USA. For example, some 10 percent of Easterners say black raspberry is one of their top two favorite ice cream flavors, but only 3 percent of those in the South agreed. See the chart below for more flavors and differences between US regions.
The poll also surveyed the preferred way to eat ice cream. Some 44 percent say in a cup, 30 percent say in a cone, 16 percent say as a sundae, and 2 percent say as a sandwich. Some 7 percent say their favorite way is “something else.” I guess we can let our minds wander (and wonder) on that.
Lastly, some 52 percent of Americans say hot fudge is their favorite ice cream topping followed by nuts and caramel (38 percent each) , whipped cream (36 percent), and 31 percent say fruit. Some 19 percent expressed a preference for sprinkles, 15 percent for candy bits and 11 percent for marshmallows. Some 19 percent said they prefer to eat their ice cream plain, perhaps in a last ditch effort to control a few calories.

— Claudia Dziuk O’Donnell, Co-owner, Global Food Forums, Inc.