h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just wondering if any of you knowledgable people know why the default flavour / flavor of icecream is vanilla? It is here in bonnie England. Is it everywhere else? I'm not complaining - it's rather nice. Just one of those things that I waste my life wondering.

here in the US it is the same. altho, i personally dont like vanilla, so i always get them to give me like chocolate or something. feel better now?

My fave was always Mint Choc Chip...

"was always"? What's up daSilva you haven't grown out of ice cream surely?

I'm guessing here, but I think it's because vanilla is a nice, comparatively bland flavour. This means you can do more with it, in a culinary sense. (What you do with ice cream when it's not in a cone/dish is entirely up to you!) Imagine mint choc chip with raspberry sauce, or a Peach Melba made with black cherry flavour.

Sounds absolutely scrummy

I like vanilla flavour, raspberry ripple and banana flavour ice cream. I dont like chocolate or mint flavour ice cream.

Personally I don't like Vanilla flavour, chocolate flavour, or any other flavour.

I do like ice cream.

??

What I like is vanilla FLAVOURED, chocolate FLAVOURED, etc. That is, with flavour from the real ingredient (such as vanilla pods), rather than the chemical imitation. The ice cream, obviously, must be made from dairy products, no veg fat.

I had water buffalo milk ice cream once. Delicious.

The reason Vanilla is the default is that it was the first synthetic flavour, and remains the cheapest.

I liked my ice cream flavored instead. The superfluous U could get caught in your throat.

Vanilla is also a synonym for predictable or boring.

If what you like is vanilla with real flavor (no "u", so there!), then Bryer's ice cream is definitely worth a look.

I really love the synthetic pump stuff from Ice Cream vans that you get with equally synthetic strawberry/raspberry syrup.
I cannot abide traditional creamery ice cream. Odd that.

The biggest selling flavor at the local lebanese ice-creamery here in LA is rose petal. There's a purple-yam flavor you can get from a Pilipino shop that's their best seller, and both green tea and mango flavor from most oriental shops (although jackfruit ice-cream is definitely malaysian). If a paletero (Mexican helado-style icecream-on-a-stick vendor) walks through your neighborhood, pinapple, mango and coconut are definitely big sellers.

mmmmmm
RosePetal flavoUr ice-cream.

we have an ice-cream machine so I could give that a whirl.

My mum used to make the most divine Brown Bread Icecream.

I agree that Mr Whippy style ice cream cones are wonderful, even more so with a Flake stuck in it.

Pistachio is one of my favourites, but it would be tough to pick a No1 all time favourite ice cream. Especially when such delicious new ones keep appearing.

I don't know why vanilla is usually a "default". I guess they assume enough people like it that they can eat it like that or add stuff to make it more appealing. Personally though, I don't like plain old vanilla as much as I like French vanilla or Vanilla bean (in the US, I don't know if you guys have that stuff on the other side of the pond).

Although my all-time favorite might be Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Yum...

Organic vanilla icecream with the tiny seeds in it is delicious and and pretty widely available in the UK.

After all B&J's is stocked over here too.

Brown Bread Ice Cream... scrummy.

I like most of the B&J combinations, most of the HD combinations, BaskinRobbins... in short: good quality ice cream is yummy.

When I was a kid we used to get two rival ice cream companies (family businesses) coming round the estate where my grandparents lived. Manfridi's and Hill Top Dairy (this was in Sheffield in the late 60s early 70s) and there were awful ice-cream-wars. Stabbings and all sorts.

But all I remember is that the icecream was very firm and white and tasty beyond compare.

Brown Bread Ice Cream... is that the brand or the flavor?

the flavour
made with real brown bread

just had a glass of lemonade with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Delicious ideal for this hot weather.