Neapolitan ice cream: what do you eat?

[installLSC]

We were discussing ice cream at work today, and I brought up Neapolitan ice cream (the stuff that's blocks of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla stuck together). I noticed that most people scarf up the chocolate and strawberry, leaving a big block of uneaten vanilla in the middle. Some coworkers said they only ate the chocolate and vanilla, leaving the strawberry on the side. So when you buy Neapolitan ice cream, which flavors do you eat and which do you leave alone?

[Pai325]

My parents used to buy it when I was little, and we kids would carefully eat the chocolate. And vanilla, leaving a ribbon of strawberry in the carton.

Now that I'm old, I like all three flavors. I haven't had any in years, but this thread is making me crave it, so it's off to Wally World tomorrow.

[CanvasShoes]

I never buy Neopolitan, but if I were at a party or something, as you describe above, I'd take a reasonable share of each, let them melt slightly, and then swirl them all together.

[TriPolar]

Wow! Winning again. Everybody does it like me!

ETA: Hey! Wait your turn. And eat your ice cream the right way.

[panache45]

First strawberry, then chocolate, then vanilla.

[Strinka]

Why would you buy ice cream you don't want to eat?

[kayT]

What is this ice cream you "leave alone"? Never met ice cream I didn't like!

[Trinopus]

Hm... That sounds like a challenge!

[TreacherousCretin]

All of them. Chocolate first, always.

[TriPolar]

Originally Posted by Strinka

Why would you buy ice cream you don't want to eat?

I've never bought Neopolitan ice cream. It always comes as the desert at low end banquets.

[Rhiannon8404]

All of them at the same time. Scoop right across the carton, then, when it in the bowl, stir it until it's a uniform grey-brown color and eat it. I have done it this way since I was a child.

[Spectralist]

All of them. But not at the same time. I'll mix the chocolate and vanilla or the strawberry and vanilla but not the chocolate and the strawberry.

[kmshrader]

Chocolate. Then vanilla. Then, and only if I'm starving or trying not to offend someone or it's the only ice cream in the freezer and my car's broken, the strawberry. Not that I dislike strawberry ice cream, but something about the sickly sweetness of the strawberry ice cream that ends up in Neopolitan ice cream is just unpalatable.

[sandra_nz]

The Neopolitan icecream we used to get as kids was pretty low quality, and we would typically only eat the chocolate because that was the only flavour that actually had flavour!

However, as an adult, I have been known to buy three seperate tubs of good quality icecream and make my own Neopolitan. Every colour gets eaten in equal measure!

[Loach]

Not a big fan of strawberry. But I won't leave it by itself. Which is why I don't buy Neapolitan. If its there I'll take some of each.

[Ponch8]

I don't like vanilla or strawberry ice cream. It reminds me of the classic Simpsons moment where Homer opens a carton of Neapolitan ice cream. "Choc-o-late...D'oh!" as he notices the chocolate part is all gone, even though the other two flavors are untouched. The same thing is true of the other carton in the freezer. "Marge, we need more of that chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream!"

[chrisk]

Vanilla and strawberry, definitely! They used to have 'pink and white checkerboard' ice cream in the stores here, which was like Neapolitan without the chocolate. Looking at the answers here gives me an idea why it was discontinued. (They still have the chocolate and vanilla checkerboard in some stores.)

This makes me sound picky, but I like the strawberry ice cream in Neapolitan/Checkerboard better than ordinary strawberry ice cream because it doesn't have bits of strawberries stuck in it.

[Ludovic]

When my dad's family bought some neapolitan, I'd eat only the vanilla which is what I responded to. Nowadays, I'd still try to stick to mostly the vanilla, but if a tiny bit of some chocolate or strawberry went in, that would be good too, for variety's sake.

[aruvqan]

It isn't a flavor that we buy for the rare occasions we need ice cream, but if served it elsewhere I either politely refuse to take ice cream at all [diabetic] or I will eat all 3 flavors equally to be polite [probably a bite or two of each flavor.]

[Antigen]

I never liked it as a kid and was confused as to why my parents kept buying it. I ate the chocolate part, and, if pressed, the vanilla. Never the strawberry, because strawberry is the grossest of all ice creams, save pistachio.

Now that I'm adult, I can go out and buy the good stuff and eat all of it.

[Thudlow Boink]

Originally Posted by installLSC

So when you buy Neapolitan ice cream, which flavors do you eat and which do you leave alone?

If only someone would sell the flavors individually, so we wouldn't have to buy Neapolitan just to get our favorite! Maybe someday some innovative ice cream company will think of this.

[Filbert]

As a kid, I ate the strawberry first, to get it out the way, (if there was still ice cream left, so far as my parents were concerned, there was no need to get more) then the vanilla, and finally the chocolate, glorious chocolate... Now I just buy chocolate.

So yes, I answered 'all of them', but reluctantly.

[Kasper1014]

As a kid, my mom bought the Neapolitan ice cream. My sister ate the chocolate and I ate the vanilla. When only strawberry was left, we threw it away. Lather, rinse, repeat.

[BrotherCadfael]

Originally Posted by CanvasShoes

I never buy Neopolitan, but if I were at a party or something, as you describe above, I'd take a reasonable share of each, let them melt slightly, and then swirl them all together.

You freak!

[secretsmile36]

Eating only 1 type would not be too smart unless that's the only kind of ice cream you have. Don't people buy Neopolitan ice cream because they like ALL the flavours in it?

[secretsmile36]

Originally Posted by Thudlow Boink

If only someone would sell the flavors individually, so we wouldn't have to buy Neapolitan just to get our favorite! Maybe someday some innovative ice cream company will think of this.

That will NEVER happen

[Moonlitherial]

I'm not a big fan of neapolitan, I like all three flavours but the version that is usually found in neapolitan are almost but not quite edible.

[BigDadWolf]

My wife gets Neapolitan pretty regularly; I really enjoy a vanilla/strawberry blend and don't worry about the choclate 'cause I know the rest of the wolfpack will finish it off soon enough.

[Rachellelogram]

Why would anyone buy Neapolitan ice cream if they only planned to eat 1 or 2 of the flavors? That's a waste of money when you could just buy an entire thingie of chocolate (or whatever you like) ice cream.

Anyway, I like vanilla bean ice cream the best of those flavors, but I suspect the vanilla in Neapolitan is subpar. So I'd throw away the container and eat some butter pecan or oreo or peanut butter ice cream, instead.

[Little Nemo]

For those asking why anyone would buy Neapolitan ice cream if they don't like all three flavors:

1. Maybe we didn't buy it. My parents bought it when I was a kid but I've never bought it myself.
2. Maybe more than one person is eating it and the preferences balance out. When I was a kid I liked chocolate and strawberry best. My brother liked vanilla. Between us, we'd finish the carton.
3. Preferences aren't absolute. A person might like all three flavors even if chocolate is his favorite. He'll eat the chocolate first but he'll also eat and enjoy the vanilla and the strawberry.

[Max the Immortal]

The Neapolitan ice cream I grew up with came in four-liter pails, with all of the flavors swirled together. I liked it; IMO each serving should have all three flavors even when dealing with "segregated" Neapolitan.

[Dr. Woo]

I'd eat 'em all. But separately. If I didn't have a knife to separate them, I'd pass. I like all three flavors, but not together.

[Idle Thoughts]

Going to slide this over to Cafe Society.

[Thudlow Boink]

When I was a kid, my Grandpa served Neapolitan ice cream by opening the end of the carton and cutting off slices (that looked something like this).

[Infovore]

I don't buy Neapolitan ice cream (don't eat ice cream much these days and when I do, I always buy Smores) but when confronted with it, I always eat the chocolate first, then the vanilla if it's not too melty. Strawberry ice cream is icky.

[foolsguinea]

I favor the strawberry, but I like to blend them all together.

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

I like all the flavors. When I was a kid, though, strawberry was my favorite, so I would go for that first.

What I liked better than Neapolitan was Hopscotch ice cream, which was a checkerboard pattern of vanilla and raspberry sherbet, or vanilla and chocolate. To get the full effect it was best served in slices rather than scooped.

[GuanoLad]

I don't like chocolate flavoured anything. Except chocolate itself, which is yummy. So I always picked out the strawberry and vanilla.

It has been about twenty years since I had neapolitan. And that word always reminds me of Napoleon, and the three colours of the Italian flag. I guess the latter is the point, though.

[brainstall]

I wouldn't eat strawberry anything as a kid, and still don't much like anything but fresh strawberries now. Neopolitan ice cream was ok if you got to pick the flavours you liked, but a total rip-off if an unsympathetic adult wouldn't give you just the vanilla and/or the chocolate and got strawberry cooties on the only edible part of the ice cream.

[Rhiannon8404]

Originally Posted by Biffy the Elephant Shrew

I like all the flavors. When I was a kid, though, strawberry was my favorite, so I would go for that first.

What I liked better than Neapolitan was Hopscotch ice cream, which was a checkerboard pattern of vanilla and raspberry sherbet, or vanilla and chocolate. To get the full effect it was best served in slices rather than scooped.

We used to get the vanilla and orange sherbet. Yum! And my mom always served it in slices.

[Doug K.]

Although I voted for chocolate and vanilla, I would never actually buy Neapolitan, and if I were someplace where it was offered as a refreshment, I would politely decline. The chocolate and vanilla portions were hopelessly contaminated before they even made it to the retailer just by virtue of being in the same container with that vile pink substance. Don't get me wrong. I love strawberries. But that stuff bears absolutely no resemblance--not in flavor, not in appearance. I don't know why labeling it as strawberry isn't considered false advertising.

[DMark]

Buying Neapolitan ice cream always seemed like someone was trying to make everybody happy and not succeeding in making anybody happy.

I love strawberries but that artificial crappy strawberry flavor in Neapolitan tastes like bad perfume in a frozen form.

[Swords to Plowshares]

I'd eat the chocolate and strawberry first (assuming it's a good ice cream with real strawberries). Save the vanilla for last, and load it up with toppings. Like chocolate syrup and strawberries.

[tumbleddown]

Originally Posted by Rhiannon8404

All of them at the same time. Scoop right across the carton, then, when it in the bowl, stir it until it's a uniform grey-brown color and eat it. I have done it this way since I was a child.

Yes! It turns the most distressingly gross non-food color when you mix it all up, and doesn't taste like anything in nature, but it's the only way to eat it.

[CarnalK]

Originally Posted by Dr. Woo

I'd eat 'em all. But separately. If I didn't have a knife to separate them, I'd pass. I like all three flavors, but not together.

Veeeeery interesting. Now tell me about your mother.

[pulykamell]

My preference, in order, is vanilla, chocolate, and then somewhere way down, strawberry. Strawberry ice cream just never did it for me, though I love good fresh strawberries. I'd actually prefer a bowl of strawberries or a hot filling of strawberries and sugar with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to strawberry ice cream.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by Spectralist

All of them. But not at the same time. I'll mix the chocolate and vanilla or the strawberry and vanilla but not the chocolate and the strawberry.

Oddly enough, of the combinations, it's chocolate and strawberry I like the best.

[Ike Witt]

One word: Spumoni.

[Bryan Ekers]

All of them when I ate Neapolitan, which I haven't in quite a few years since I realized that they were pretty low-quality versions of the flavours, compared to getting a carton of straight-up chocolate, vanilla or strawberry.