New Delhi: June 27 must have been a hot day worldwide, as it was our record day for “ice cream” with the highest number of searches. But then again, Ice Cream Day, July 20, is just around the corner and at foodpanda, we were curious to see which country loves it the most. Overall Asia came first, so we took a closer look at the leading eight countries to find out their top preferences.
With the most orders per capita, Singapore has a preference for chocolate while its traditional opposite, vanilla, is most loved by Pakistan. Nonetheless, vanilla is the world’s favorite, however simple it may sound. Crowned in global surveys, it also carries a lot of history: Vanilla was first used by the Aztecs then embraced by the French who in turn introduced it to the Americans, followed by the rest of the world. During their hot summer spells Taiwan and Vietnam go for tropical tastes with mango and coconut as their first choice. India prefers to mix it up with cookies and cream similar to Thailand that favors vanilla brownie, while Malaysia and Indonesia go towards the West with raspberry and pistachio at the top of their list. The other flavors that Indians showed the greatest love for are Chocolate and Vanilla.
In India, an observation of the ice cream-eating propensities showed that if 100 people were to order the lip-smacking dessert online, 30 would be from Chandigarh, 26 from Chennai, 9 from Hyderabad, 6 from Jaipur and 5 from Mumbai and Gurgaon each. Surprisingly, the percentage of ice cream lovers is lower in the bigger cities of Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. This trend could be attributed to the heightened health consciousness amongst the patrons from the metros who prefer ordering the healthier cousin of the ice cream, frozen yoghurt! However, for all those who still like to pamper their taste buds with a little indulgence every now and then, foodpanda.in is offering a 20% discount on all ice-cream orders from the 19th to the 26th of July!
Since July is Ice Cream month we decided to go back to its origins and discover the most interesting facts around the history of our favourite summer sweet. In a nutshell, the Persians invented it, the Romans developed it, Renaissance Europe popularized it, and modern day industry spread it all around the world. Ice cream dates back around 2500 years ago when the Persians would pour grape juice concentrate over snow and eat it during the hot summers. At that time, they created it for their royal families and it consisted of iced rose water, vermicelli, saffron, fruits and other sweet flavours. Still, so many years down the line and it has not seized to surprises us with its diversity. As long as you have imaginative taste buds, you can turn any flavor that comes to mind into ice cream, and that is perhaps the best thing about it.
The basic ingredients of a standard ice cream are nothing more than milk, cream, sugar, eggs and salt. But this is just the beginning. After this base, the fun begins. All you need is creativity and some inspiration. Any edible product can dress up as an ice cream: fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, alcohol, and choose between sweet, bitter, soft, strong, velvety, or an icy refreshing sorbet. The chameleon of foods, ice cream can be tailored to satisfy everyone’s imagination. What flavor will you try on Ice Cream day?
