It must be nice not to have any real problems

[conuly]

Dear Annie: Why do Americans have so many ice cream products?

This week, I went to the supermarket, and there were 10 new ice creams to choose from, and I was just about to finish off trying them all from the prior week. I'm not fat -- yet.

Yes, even with the problems of supply, they somehow still manage to pack the refrigerators with new choices. I find myself spending at least five to 10 minutes trying to choose an ice cream that is healthy, economical and tastes good.

In my country, we have fewer ice cream choices, but they all taste good. Should I check myself to see if I have obsessive-compulsive disorder, or should I be concerned that we indeed have too many choices in America?

Another crazy complaint, if I may: I recently found out that a famous ice cream brand with a European label is not actually European. The first time I found this product, I happily told the clerk, who often sees me hanging around the ice cream aisle, that I had found a European ice cream.

He didn't seem surprised but actually looked concerned. I felt like an idiot after I found out it's made by an American corporation. No wonder he looked concerned.

So, this has been my problem, and I need a solution. Maybe you can help? -- Too Many Choices

Dear Choices: Isn't America great? The complaint in many countries is that there aren't enough choices, while your concern about this country is that we have too many choices of ice cream. That's a sweet thought.

In all seriousness, you bring up a good point that too many choices can actually be detrimental to your well-being. Psychology professor Barry Schwartz argues that having an infinite number of choices can be exhausting. We can set unrealistic expectations and then think we might have made the wrong choice.

Next time you go to the supermarket, make up your mind on the flavor you want before you enter, and don't let all the choices seduce you into swaying.

Link

Comments

[conuly]

If this is such a problem for LW, maybe they need to stop buying so much ice cream.

[mrissa]

Yeah, they literally do not have to try them all. Why would you have to try them all? You don't have to try all of anything.

[cimorene]

I live in a country with a lot fewer icecream choices now, but it's never occurred to me to try to taste them all. I mean, most of them are ones I've tasted already, because of America, but pear icecream and black salty licorice (salmiakki) ice cream are both extremely popular here and I don't try them because they don't sound good. Every year we have new seasonal flavors from the slightly more expensive brands we get, including a limited selection of Ben & Jerry's, but I still only try the ones that look especially good.

[ioplokon]

I think LW is probably feeling homesick & it is coming out in this ice cream thing.

Idk, moving to a new country is hard & it's normal to go through periods of disenchantment and petty frustration.

(Or, if LW is unable to shake the conviction that something terrible will happen if they don't try every ice cream and make the Correct choice, yeah, see a therapist about OCD or anxiety)

[redbird]

As the columnist notes, having too many choices can be difficult or confusing. And no, even if you're a food critic, you don't have to try them all.

I live in Boston, and have Opinions about the local ice cream shops, including where to get the best black raspberry ice cream, or that Tosci's has better sweet cream than JP Licks. But I haven't tried all the flavors at either place, nor at Lizzy's, where I get most of my ice cream, and I have no opinion about anyone's butter pecan, rum raisin, or mint chip.

I haven't done a lot of head-to-head comparisons, and don't intend to. Rather, if I don't already know what I'm going to order when I walk into an ice cream store, I look in the freezer or at the posted list of flavors, and pick something that looks good. My life would not be significantly worse if I had never tried or heard of kulfi, cucumber, red fluff, or Saint Lucia ice cream.

Never mind that Haagen Dazs is from the Bronx, I may seek out a familiar brand at the supermarket, but "European"doesn't seem like a meaningful category here.

[movingfinger]

"Do you know," he said, "my cousin said that in America there's shops that sell thirty-nine different flavors of ice cream?"

This even silenced Adam briefly.

"There aren't thirty-nine flavors of ice cream," said Pepper. "There aren't thirty-nine flavors in the whole world."

[carbonel]

I was just thinking of that bit!

[carbonel]

Many years ago, I went to Best Buy, fully intending to buy a compact stereo system for my office. There were many many choices. I asked one of the employees for help, and he was useless. I ended up leaving without buying one, and a year or so later found one for sale for $10 at a garage sale. Thank you (I guess), useless Best Buy employee, for saving me several hundred dollars.

[joyeuce]

This is my family's favourite place for ice cream, and even between the four of us who usually go we haven't tried all the flavours. One summer they did a wonderful elderberry and elderflower flavour ... bliss. And if we feel it's a bit chilly for ice cream, they do several different flavours of hot chocolate. Thank you, LW, for bringing back some happy memories!

[jadelennox]

to be fair to LW, decision fatigue can be really difficult for some people. It's why I intentionally avoid certain kinds of shops (big ones, mostly), and why internet shopping is so hard for me (since I can theoretically pick exactly the set of characteristics I want). LW's complaint that

even with the problems of supply, they somehow still manage to pack the refrigerators with new choices

is an intentional dark pattern of food manufacturers, developed by psychologists, to keep endless swapping in new variants of ice cream, cereal, cookies, etc., so your reward systems for novelty kick in. Some people aren't susceptible to it, and that's awesome, but it's an intentional brain hack on the part of the stores. Coupons and sales are the same psychological manipulation, at least in grocery stores.

LW is wrong to make it a culturally based value judgement, but right that it's a problem for them. The columnist's advice to pre-decide what to buy is a good counter to the manipulation effects.

[sushiflop]

So, this has been my problem, and I need a solution.

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM THOUGH

I love this letter. I'm going to take a moment to appreciate the ice cream selection the next time I go to a supermarket. Better yet, there's ice cream stores that sell entirely different flavors and concoctions of ice cream too! Truly we live in the midst of unimaginable splendors.

[purlewe]

What is hilarious to me is that tonight I was asked to bring vanilla ice cream to a friend's house for dessert after dinner. Like LW I couldn't decide what type of ice cream to buy. Almost every brand makes vanilla and I am not a vanilla ice cream fan... so my quandry was which one to get??? I decided to buy 2 types of vanilla pints of brands I had never heard of since I figured it meant that either one of them could be nice AND a treat since they were brands I had never seen before.

I agree with the advice tho. Know what flavor you are going to get before you go. I really love chocolate ice cream and if offered lots of different brands I might try a couple to find the one I liked. It makes it more consistent to try the same flavor across different brands. Heck I do it whenever I go to a diner I have never tried before. I order something that I know I always like to see if it is as good as other places before I branch out to try something new. if nothing else you already know you like that type of flavor and you can be more equal in your deciding if it is a good ice cream to get again.

[azurelunatic]

I think that the number of ice creams to get is the best thing to pre-decide. I'm looking at you, Ben & Jerry's. (We usually let the coupon limit decide how many we are getting, and don't usually get the small-carton expensive brands outside of sales.) If we were determined to Try All The Flavors, we'd have to rotate through them at a slower rate. For me, the "we're getting chocolate, who cares about The New Shiny" gets defeated at first sight of the New Shiny, but with a 1 carton limit I would have to choose: chocolate OR New Shiny -- a narrower choice, but easier for my brain to cope with.

[katiedid717]

I will say, as somebody with disordered eating habits and a tendency to binge instead of Experience An Emotion, the vast amount of options available for cookies, crackers, ice cream, and potato chips have been a problem for me as well - I can really sympathize with LW for this reason. The solution that worked for me (pre-pandemic, at least) was to switch over to Trader Joe's for groceries instead of the big supermarkets - fewer junk choices meant I was morn likely to focus on fruits and vegetables, and then maybe one or two types of snack a week (instead of a cart full of potato chips and Ben & Jerry's).

I had an Italian housemate back in 2015/2016 who gained 15 pounds in his first month in the US because he kept buying junk food at the supermarket. I remember coming home one day to find six different bags of bread products on the counter - Portuguese rolls, cinnamon swirl bread, sourdough, wonder bread, you name it - all of which were GONE within a week. Dude also bought a giant bottle of coffee creamer and drank it like milk. But wondered why none of his clothes were fitting anymore...

[roaratorio]

I am also on Team Tosci's Sweet Cream! (But have not tried the flavors at any of the local places and would NEVER write to an advice columnist about it what)

[full_metal_ox]

Remember the scene in Hot Fuzz where Nick Angel reacts to Danny Butterman’s video-store-sized library of trashy action movies? “BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL!”

That’s (Euro-American) me in the ramen aisle of an Asian grocery.

[ysobel]

“There could be, if you mixed them up,” said Wensleydale, blinking owlishly. “You know. Strawberry and chocolate. Chocolate and vanilla.” He sought for more English flavors. “Strawberry and vanilla and chocolate,” he added, lamely.

[conuly]

Every time I'm reminded of that scene I want to grab those kids and give them some nice mint chocolate chip ice cream, and then follow it up with some dulce de leche and perhaps a little ginger ice cream as well.

[purlewe]

I love this!! Yes. And now when I get ramen I will think of this too!!

[conuly]

I will concede that you, at least, definitely have a real problem. I'm still not sure LW does, based solely on what's in the letter.

[katiedid717]

LW definitely seems to be more along the lines of the Italian housemate - "ooh so much bread to try, wait, why am i gaining weight??"

[moem]

Salty licorice ice cream is my personal favourite. But it's not for everyone.
Pear, on the other hand... I can't imagine why that wouldn't sound good.

[nineveh_uk]

I have a couple of different pear ice creams on holiday and they were delicious. Salmiakki ice cream was not, but then I don't like even ordinary licorice.

[conuly]

I don't much like pears.

And while I can see how you'd make a pear ice cream that has an okay texture, my first thought is that they're too watery to make into ice cream. Dairy free sorbet, maybe.