As I searched the grocery store for my grandfather’s favourite ice-cream, the Neapolitan, I thought to myself, do stores still carry this flavour? Have they ousted the common Neapolitan in favour of some new fancy schmancy flavour? But alas, I found it residing harmoniously with all the other ice-creams, common and fancy alike.
Who would’ve thought that flavours such as the Neapolitan still has a place in an ice-cream world of Häagen-Dazs® and Ben and Jerry’s? With all the new flavours and premium ice-cream readily available, it’s easy to forget this “Family Classic” as it is labelled on the Neapolitan carton.
If you are aware of Chinese food culture, people in the older generation don’t like eating cold things. They don’t like eating cold salads or drinking cold water let alone eating frozen ice-cream! Somehow, anything cold is deemed to be not good for you.
Thinking back, it is not surprising how my grandfather embraced eating ice-cream. He was brought up with more Western influences compared to most Chinese men from his generation. He even learned some English and could speak a few words. I feel that my upbringing has been greatly influenced by my grandparents’ progressive thinking for that generation.
As I was taking bites of this ice-cream, for research purposes of course, all the childhood memories came back to me. When we lived in Hong Kong, my grandfather always treated us with a bowl of ice-cream after dinner. When my family briefly moved to the States, he always had ice-cream in the freezer as well. At that time, he upgraded to a new favourite flavour, Rocky Road. But once in awhile, we still got to taste the classic Neapolitan. My grandfather insisted that he bought the ice-cream for us kids but we all knew he really bought it for himself 😉
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