# They could only eat ice cream **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 7, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-could-only-eat-ice-cream/670591 "2013-10-07T15:27:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fuchsiagroan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9de0a6/32.png) [@fuchsiagroan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuchsiagroan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-could-only-eat-ice-cream/670591/1 "2013-10-07T15:27:16Z")
I’ve wondered about this for a long time. What did the teen hooker in the 80s film Mona Lisa mean by telling Bob Hoskins character (an ex con turned driver for a prostitute. Of course he falls in love) that they can only eat ice cream? He asks but the only answer forthcoming is a smug smile at his naivete. Too many blow jobs was all I could figure, but then why was that only the case for the young girls and not the working gal he carried a torch for? I wonder about this any time another hooker story comes on TV. I’ve never seen anything else like this in any other story, teens or not. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-could-only-eat-ice-cream/670591/2 "2013-10-07T18:02:41Z")
Isn’t there something about junkies and ice cream? Drug use among street prostitutes is rife. Don’t know if that makes sense in the context of the movie as I don’t remember much about it. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-could-only-eat-ice-cream/670591/3 "2013-10-07T18:04:24Z")
Maybe because she was too young to legally be served alcohol, so he couldn’t take her out for a drink? They could only go to the proverbial “malt shop” instead? 😕 I must admit, though, I haven’t seen the film, so that’s just a WAG. ---
**Author:** ![fuchsiagroan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9de0a6/32.png) [@fuchsiagroan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuchsiagroan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-could-only-eat-ice-cream/670591/4 "2013-10-07T19:46:14Z")
The main character had spent a long sentence in prison before taking on the driver job for his old crime boss. I thought it was weird he wouldn’t know. Junkies do love sugar. Maybe that’s it. I guess it was just a pointless scene. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-could-only-eat-ice-cream/670591/5 "2013-10-08T13:24:15Z")
I haven’t seen the film either, but it sounds like something to emphasise her youth, in contrast to her very ‘adult’ profession. Or she might be a toothless crack-whore who can eat little else. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-could-only-eat-ice-cream/670591/6 "2013-10-10T16:17:02Z")
I do not kow the exact quote from the film, but I am currently reading **The Gangs of New York** , which has a mention near the end of Chapter XIV to “ice cream eaters” as being users of cocaine, heroin or morphine who chew the crystals instead of injecting or inhaling them. I take nothing in this book as valid or supported, but perhaps the write of the film was referencing a (currently) outdated druggie term. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-could-only-eat-ice-cream/670591/7 "2013-10-10T16:48:26Z")
> [@ticker](#): > > Isn’t there something about junkies and ice cream? Drug use among street prostitutes is rife. Don’t know if that makes sense in the context of the movie as I don’t remember much about it. That’s sorta it. Heroin has a reputation for depressing appetite in many addicts and fucking with the [GI tract](http://www.medicine.virginia.edu/clinical/departments/medicine/divisions/digestive-health/nutrition-support-team/nutrition-articles/ChanArticle.pdf), but at the same time causing [sugar cravings](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3109725/) in some. Combine the two ( and that character was definitely an addict ) and you get that scene. She can’t bring herself to eat anything but ice cream anymore.