Ice cream

I meant to say, while we were in Sardinia, that it's deeply disappointing to find how much 'ice cream' has changed, even in Italian territory.  As with bread, the memories of what we could buy when I was a child are clearly irretrievable.

Italian ice-cream was world famous for its rich fruit content, bright colours, delicious taste and loyalty to an old tradition... there's even a music-hall song about an Italian ice-cream seller. They knew what they were doing.  There was an family-run ice-cream business in Chalk Farm, a mile or so down the road from where we lived, and sometimes an uncle or somebody would go down there to bring some home - wrapped (weirdly to me then) in a towel to stop it from melting.

Image by Toddot

It was different from the Walls ice-cream otherwise available in shops, which came as Vanilla, Vanilla-Strawberry-Chocolate, or Neapolitan which had a strange green stripe in it.  Marine Ices ice-cream had a zing and punch of taste which was just worlds away.

What we've noticed in travels in France, Spain, Corsica, the Canaries, Madeira and now Sardinia is that 'something' has happened to ice-cream.  The shops are glamorous, with glass-fronted covers over displays of several steel dishes of luridly coloured product.  The names are the same - the Stracciatella, the Pistachio, the Doppo Cioccolata, the Fragola.... but the flavours and content have gone. The texture is always the same - smooth, with no crystals, consistent.

I imagine that scientists have got their hands on it, to maintain the texture. Its propped up by glycerine or somesuch. So these packs of product, on display, in varying temperatures, exposed to light and air, have to stay looking attractive... The 'look' has become more important than the taste, because that's what leads to the buying decision. Customers are unlikely to come back anyway, as they are wandering around on holiday. The colours, the choice, the names of the varieties are what drives the sale.  The first few seconds, when customers stand in the shop for the first delicious lick - well, the taste will be good-enough for that, and the texture will be pleasing at that moment... 

 But when you have (over a period of time) tried several ice-creams, and found they all have exactly the same texture, and the taste is always slightly disappointing, then you have to concede that things have changed - for the worse.  No granules of ice, but no real high.  I don't know if it's glycerine, but it's something creating this texture.  And I think the flavours have been industrialised too, based on syrups instead of real fruits.  So, if you want real old-fashioned proper ice-cream, you will either have to find an artisan maker on your travels, or make it yourself.