Be it the scorching summer or the chilly winter, ice creams are always one of the most sought after food items around the globe. The cold and fluffy ice creams that come in myriad flavours and colours have enchanted the young and the old alike. While some like to enjoy ice creams on a hot day others like to have it as a dessert after a hearty meal. However, have you ever wondered whether one could have ice cream for breakfast?
The first Saturday in February is celebrated as ‘Ice Cream for Breakfast Day’ in many parts of the world. Florence Rappaport, a mother of six in Rochester, New York is believed to be the inventor of this interesting day, when people deliberately eat ice cream for breakfast. It was a snowy winter morning in 1960 and Florence was rummaging through her pantry, looking for ingredients to cook a healthy breakfast for her kids. However, she couldn’t find any fruits or vegetables. Neither could she feed them milk as milk had been frozen in the chilly weather. All she had was a tub of ice cream in her fridge.
Meanwhile, her younger kids saw that their mother was upset. To humour her kids and make them eat ice cream on that cold snowy morning, Florence declared, “Let’s eat ice cream for breakfast”. She explained that it was a unique tradition to eat ice cream for breakfast on the first Saturday of February. The kids told their friends about this special custom. Next year, they remembered that the first Saturday of February was ‘Ice Cream for Breakfast Day’ and asked Florence to give them ice cream in the morning. Later, when the siblings grew up, they threw parties on that day and the tradition spread as they settled in various corners of the world.
Today, ‘Ice Cream for Breakfast Day’ is celebrated in countries like Nepal, Namibia, Germany, New Zealand and Honduras. Meanwhile, events are organized in China and Israel to mark this special day. The ice cream shops in the US announce special programs, discounts and raffles on the first Saturday of February. The amount collected like this is usually donated to charity.
