OpenTube

The Surprising Truth About American vs. European Ice Cream

Type Ashton

173,597 views

Baskin-Robbins to Germany’s traditional Eisdielen, we explore how food regulations, industrialization, Italian immigration, and consumer culture shaped two very different ice cream traditions. Go to https://surfshark.com/typeashton or use code TYPEASHTON at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark!

Discover the surprising differences in ingredients, labeling, portion sizes, and ice cream culture—and why European ice cream isn’t necessarily more natural than its American counterpart.

Chapters:
00:00 INTRO
01:58 HOW AMERICA MADE ICE CREAM NATIONAL
08:08 HOW GERMANY MADE ITALIAN ICE CREAM LOCAL
12:32 MAKING INTERNATIONAL VIDEOS SAFELY
14:00 THE PUBLIC IMAGE VS MARKET REALITY
17:12 WHAT'S IN THE SCOOP?
22:40 MY OPINION

All Sources at End of Video to Read More

Other Videos You Might Enjoy:

The *REAL REASON * No One Wants US Beef
The *REAL REASON * No One Wants US Beef

Sorry USA, Europeans have better food and here's why.
Sorry USA, Europeans have better food and ...

Episode No. 206
📷 Follow me on Instagram: Instagram: typeashton
🤳🏻 TikTok: TikTok: typeashton
🖥 Website: https://www.blackforestfamily.com
📧 E-mail: typeashton@gmail.com

SUPPORT ME
👑 Patreon: Patreon: TypeAshton

Attribution:
Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic
Thank you to AP Archive and the Library of Congress for access to their archival footage. Stock footage and others clips by Getty and Envato Elements

Narrated and produced by Dr. Ashton Schottler

#EuropeVsUSA #IceCream #USAvsEurope #AmericanVsEuropean #FoodCulture #FoodHistory #Gelato #Germany #TypeAshton

20 Comments

@TypeAshton Creator 4 days ago Pinned

Go to https://surfshark.com/typeashton or use code TYPEASHTON at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark!

@Asasz6 4 days ago

Yes, walkable neigbourhoods are the best part of European icecream experience. Also general European experience.

@danieloberhofer9035 4 days ago

As much as I love ice cream in all its varieties, let me go off on a tangent here and say that the admirable amount of preparation, scripting, planning and execution you put into this video hasn't gone unnoticed - and is very much appreciated! You've totally succeeded at seamlessly switching between the US and Germany to naturally reinforce the narrative. Excellent production value. It's been a real Sunday treat.

@andeez4663 4 days ago

"Drive-thru" ice cream? No way. Sitting in a car to eat? No way. I'd rather stay at home and eat something from my freezer. The thing I love most about Europe is the pedestrian zones where we go to stroll and get coffee or ice cream and watch the world go by.

@Nertez 4 days ago (edited)

I would rather have mediocre ice cream in great public place than the best ice cream in the world while sitting in the car in a parking lot next to a stroad.

@davidgolieri4218 4 days ago

The big thing that has happened in the US is in your background, Dairy Queen "frozen dairy product". It is not ice cream any more. In the grocery store the vast majority of items in the ice cream aisle are labeled frozen dairy product and not ice cream. This is because the products are altered to reduce costs and increase profits. I miss gelato when in the US and almost only eat gelato when in europe.

@ronaldreid2185 4 days ago

As a Brit, I love Germany, where in summer, bars, restaurants and ice cream parlours spill out onto parasol lined roads. It speaks of a culture that knows how to gather and enjoy their leisure time. Also, the shops that serve ice cream in summer change to coffee shops in winter. These are places to go to meet friends, they're social and lift the spirit.

@TheJensss 4 days ago

Being made from natural ingredients like cream, real chocolate, and strawberries, without lots of artificial additives, sweeteners, and other chemicals, should be a major factor.

A lot of ice cream today tastes artificial, and when you look at the ingredients, it’s often full of additives and unhealthy stuff. Real ice cream also melts quickly in the sun.

@martinbromikkelsen 4 days ago

The Magnum ice compared in the video 20:24 is essentially a Danish product. It was developed in the late 1980s by Mogens Vigh-Larsen, Technical Director of the Danish ice cream company Frisko in Aarhus, Denmark, and was produced there starting in the autumn of 1988. Its initial commercial launch took place in Germany in 1989, after which it spread to the rest of Europe.

It did not reach the US until 2011—more than 20 years after the European launch. Today, it is no longer produced in Denmark (the Aarhus factory has been converted into apartments and shops) but in factories in countries such as Germany, England, and France. Ownership lies with The Magnum Ice Cream Company, headquartered in Amsterdam, but its origins is Danish.

@yabatopia 4 days ago

6:43 The ice cream doesn’t become a base layer, it’s re-industrialized to a somewhat frozen add-on to a sugar candy mix. Some formula for American coffee: a sugar candy mix with a hot coffee flavored fluid added-on. Same formula for donuts. Or pancakes. Or cereals.

@stefangroeschel1137 5 days ago

Gelato italiano é supremo! 🇪🇺 🇮🇹

@Henry-j4j 4 days ago

in Germany there is the "Lebensmittelbuch" and the "Lebensmittelleitsätze" - those count like laws and have different categories for ice (Speiseeis) too

@MichaEl-rh1kv 4 days ago (edited)

Ice cream in the USA and Germany has a shared history. Both started with the first Italian café in Paris offering ice cream back in the late 17th century, and at in the 2nd half of the 18th century they both had the first ice parlors (New York and Hamburg).
21:35 Fun fact: The US company Ben & Jerry's is like the Dutch Magnum Company owned by British Unilever (which originated as merger between a Dutch-German margarine and a British soap producer). And in Germany Magnum uses still the Langnese brand (originally a Biscuit brand, but bought in 1927 by Hamburg merchant Karl Seyferth for his "Deutsch-Chinesische Eisproduktionsgesellschaft" (German-Chinese Ice Cream Production Company), which he sold in 1937 to the German subsidiary of Unilever).

@joso5554 4 days ago

Things are simple. Take high quality genuine ingredients, run away from ANY artificial additives. If there are more than 3 to 5 ingredients, throw it away.

@fmbga 4 days ago

I really appreciate the American ice cream culture - my wife and I once went on a summer-long tour of all our local soft serve places to decide our favorite (Putz's Creamy Whip), and we have very good local ice cream brands available, which I also enjoy. I mean, who wouldn't enjoy Graeter's black raspberry chip, or one of Jeni's many fun flavors?
But when we are in Germany, it's Eisdiele time! It's like hanging out at a cafe, except that instead of a piece of pie and a hot beverage, you select from your menu a hand-assembled dish made from gelato and various other ingredients, which comes in its own special glass cup, served on a serving plate and a doily, with a long-handled metal spoon, a paper napkin, and possibly a little cup of water. Then you sit outside at your cafe table, slowly or not so slowly working your way into your ice cream, chatting with your friends, and watching the people in the cobblestone-covered town square. Maybe someone you know will pass by, and you can have a little chat with them, too. For me, that's the high point of the German summer experience!

@mcpetzold 4 days ago

We like European ice cream/gelato/sorbet. Chocolate is rich and dark. Banana has real banana in it. Lemon is just the right balance of tart and sweet. Not too sweet. Pure product. No gum to keep it from melting.

@Al69BfR 2 days ago (edited)

I not only like the topic but I especially like the work you put in that script to seamlessly switch between the different locations. Very very nice. Also the work on keeping your voice sound almost the same between takes is really good. I‘m guessing that some ADR is involved.

@NayinParis 5 days ago

0:43 When I was 8 years old I got ran over by an ice cream truck and the one thing I remember is that slogan “We scream for Ice Cream” on the back of the truck 😂

@brindlebucker4741 4 days ago

I live in the Grass Market in Edinburgh. Across the way we have Mary's Milk Bar. I guess it's in tourist books because in summer, tourists queue up out the door and away up the Flodden Steps waiting to get in. Mary makes fresh ice cream every morning and she has completely different flavours every day. You never know what you will get. And I mean, she has bizarre combos that just work somehow. I've actually had pineapple/jalapeno in there and it was gorgeous. She'll use things that you just don't associate with ice cream, like basil. And she makes it work. I try to pop in there at least once a week.