# Weird ice cream flavors in Japan and other places **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 22, 2002, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176 "2002-07-22T05:16:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/1 "2002-07-22T05:16:26Z")
I got this in my [Bonehead of the Day Award](http://www.bonehead.oddballs.com) newsletter tonight: > [@](#): > > We used to think we liked ice cream. > > “After destroying the pizza with toppings of corn and mayonnaise, the Japanese are now looking to reinvent ice-cream, with some interesting results – to say the least.” > > Comment appearing in the Mainichi Japanese newspaper, which offered up as evidence these ice cream flavors now available in Japan: > > · Fish Ice Cream (Sanma Aisu) (comes with liberal amounts of brandy) > · Octopus Ice Cream (Taco Aisu) > · Squid Ice Cream (Ika Aisu) > · Ox Tongue Ice Cream (Gyutan Aisu) > · Sweet Potato Ice Cream (Imoshiba) > · Fried Eggplant Ice Cream (Yaki Nasu Aisu) > · Crab Ice Cream (Kani Aisu) > · Corn Ice Cream (Tomorokoshi Aisu) > · Shrimp Ice Cream (Sakura Ebi Aisu) > · Eel Ice Cream (Unagi Aisu) > · Chicken Wing Ice Cream (Nagoya Tebasaki) > · Cactus Ice Cream (Saboten Aisu) Now, I would never have thought about those as possible ice cream flavors at **all**! I was in Gilroy, CA a couple of summers ago, and the city bills itself as “The Garlic Capital of the World.” My mother insisted we go there, since she loves tghe stuff. We tried some of thier garlic ice cream, and it was extremely garlicky. Here in Vancouver, we have two gelato places, which have a wide variety of flavors. When I’ve been there, these are some of the more odd flavors I’ve seen: [ul] [li]garlic[/li][li]curry[/li][li]wildberry with jalapeno (I tried it, and it was very good; then again, I like spicy food)[/li][li]aged balsamic vinegar (my brother pointed this one out to me)[/li][li]dill pickle[/li][li]durian (the only one with a lid on it all the time, for reasons of smell)[/li][li]I’m sure there are more, but I can’t remember them quite at the moment.[/li][/ul] I heard of some guy who was selling spaghetti-flavored ice cream, but I’m not sure where he was located. Still, I wouldn’t eat that. So have you heard of any other weird ice cream flavors? Or eaten them? Tell your stories! F\_X ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/2 "2002-07-22T06:26:37Z")
I was coerced into trying a durian ice cream bar once by my brother. It tasted like a salty fishsicle. I decided I didn’t like it very much. On the other hand, I like corn and tuna on pizza so I may not be the best judge. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/3 "2002-07-22T07:16:12Z")
In Florence, Italy–I once sampled a rice-flavored gelati. I actually found it to be quite tasty. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/4 "2002-07-22T07:37:44Z")
I think Chicken Wing Ice Cream might not be too bad. Then again, it might taste like crap. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/5 "2002-07-22T08:05:32Z")
When I was on Vancouver Island, I had licorice ice cream. It was grey. Yuummm… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/6 "2002-07-22T08:08:53Z")
Out of those listen in the OP, sweet potato ice cream actually sounds OK. I just hope nobody tries to copy Chunky Monkey ice cream and uses real monkeys. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/7 "2002-07-22T08:14:03Z")
While living in Japan in 1986 or '87, I tried Green Tea Ice Cream once. It tasted like frozen Milk of Magnesia. Perhaps I had the wrong cultural attitude, but I found it awful and inedible. Like eating chalk. (I should add that I love Asian food in general, and this was one of the few culinary experiences I disliked. Barbecued sparrow? Bring it on. But that ice cream was awful.) ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/8 "2002-07-22T08:15:32Z")
I once read an interview with a woman who worked as a taster for an ice cream manufacturer in the UK. Apparently they’re willing to try _anything_ to see if it might be a hit. The one flavour I do recall was smoked salmon. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/9 "2002-07-22T08:24:56Z")
Here in Ireland, we have Brown Bread ice cream, and believe me, it is absolutely delicious. They tried Guinness ice cream too, but it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/10 "2002-07-22T11:11:17Z")
If you want to see the original Mainichi article, scroll down a bit on their [front page](http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/). A variety show was doing a program on Hamamatsu (where the best Unagi eels are raised on farms) a few weeks ago, and the hosts tried the eel ice cream (it’s sold by one (and only one) of the eel farm/restaurants, btw). They also thought it was pretty weird and weren’t too thrilled about the taste. Barbecued eel and eel cookies, otoh, are exquisite. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/11 "2002-07-22T13:28:54Z")
If you go to an Indian grocery store, you can find ice cream that has been flower-flavored (Rose, for instance). It seems odd, but nowhere near as odd as those in the OP. (And I’ve eaten flower-flavored candy, like C. Howard’s violet mints and gum). I heard that they once made a single gallon of **ketchup** ice cream for a manager who really liked ketchup. It was done as a joke, and no one wanted to eat it. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/12 "2002-07-22T14:11:49Z")
Last night, at Baskin-Robbins, I saw that the Flavor of the Month was America’s Birthday Cake. This had white-cake flavored ice cream mixed with strawberry ice cream and blue cream frosting. I did not have the necessary, ah, curiosity to try it and settled for peanut-butter-and-chocolate and pralines n’ cream instead. Robin ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/13 "2002-07-22T14:49:38Z")
OMG I LOVE Green Tea Icecream! Die die die, die a million deaths! I drive 40 min out of my way to the ONE grocery store in San Antonio which carries quarts of that frozen goodness. Oh yeah, and corn on pizza is a english/european thing. mmmm so good (i had a lot of that about a decade ago in england) ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/14 "2002-07-22T17:20:24Z")
I like Durian Ice cream, it doesn’t smell as bad as durians themselves. And Green Tea Ice cream rules. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/15 "2002-07-22T17:29:32Z")
I have tried green tea ice cream, but didn’t think it was so odd as to be included in my OP. After all, I _am_ Chinese. 😉 (and we Chinese eat some pretty weird things) Of course, it might sound odd to other Dopers, and I realize that. But every time I’ve had green tea ice cream, it’s been good, so maybe it’s just me. :shrug: As for licorice ice cream, I once saw some blue licorice ice cream many years ago. (this would have been when my brother was about five or so, making it at least fifteen years ago) I never tried it, but it was in one of those 4L (about a gallon, I think) tubs. A starter size of it (say, 500 mL) I could understand, but 4L? Is there _anybody_ out there who will happily down 4L of the stuff? (not in one sitting, of course) Probably yes. F\_X ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/16 "2002-07-22T17:34:44Z")
I’d never heard of it (green tea) before i moved to SF. Here there are ice cream stores that sell 40 flavors, all ones that would freak out the good people still living back home in Illinois. I’ll get around to trying some of those stores eventually, its usually not hot enough here for me to want ice cream (lousy fog!!). ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/17 "2002-07-22T18:16:40Z")
[Wayne’s World] Benjamin is no one’s friend, Russell. If Benjamin were an ice cream flavor, he’d be pralines and dick. [/Wayne’s World] ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/18 "2002-07-22T19:55:06Z")
I had an aunt in the Peace Corps in Somalia who wrote to us that she had eaten soy nut ice cream. She seemed to think it was good. I’ve always been curious about what it actually tasted like. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/19 "2002-07-22T20:29:01Z")
I’ve had Stout Beer Ice Cream. It’s OK, but nothing special. A small Creamery here in the states, MicroBatch, makes limited runs of any number of odd-ball flavors. Every year they make a run of some bizzare flavor for April Fool’s Day. One year, it was Creamed Corn Ice Cream. They sold every pint, too… I’m waiting for Grean Bean Ice Cream, but I think perhaps the worst possible flavor would be Anchovy Ice Cream. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176/20 "2002-07-22T20:44:03Z")
[Fox news](http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,58266,00.html) ice cream article. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-ice-cream-flavors-in-japan-and-other-places/120176.md?page=2)