Jane Macdougall: The Bookless Club and the scoop on ice cream flavours

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Chocolate, or vanilla?

Chocolate, right? Yeah, me too.

When it comes to ice cream, there’s a good chance you’re choosing chocolate over vanilla. Okay, maybe not with a slice of apple pie, but when it comes to a cone, two scoops of chocolate rules.

Turns out, statistically speaking, more people prefer chocolate ice cream over vanilla. What’s more? This flavour preference may be entirely beyond our control. That’s right: chocolate lovers, you were born this way.

The DNA testing company, 23andMe, did some field work on the crucially important subject of which flavour dominates in the ice cream cone line-up. They analyzed the responses of almost a million people — really! — on the question of which flavour they preferred, chocolate or vanilla. Turns out, there are 739 genetic markers that are associated with your flavour preference. Age, sex and ancestry also play a role, but it’s your nose that will cast the deciding vote. A batch of the genetic markers that dictate ice cream flavour preference are located close to the olfactory receptor genes which contain instruction for proteins that help detect odours. The appreciation of flavours is a combination of what your nose smells and what your taste buds taste. The findings suggest that genetic variations in olfactory receptor genes may affect the perception of these flavours.

The research participants in the 980,000-person study contributed their genetic data and survey responses on the subject of ice cream flavours. The study yadders on about statistical models, neural mechanisms of gustation, and factoring in and out various data, but the findings indicate that 47 per cent of 23andMe research participants have an innate preference for chocolate over vanilla.

Be that as it may.

According to Baskin-Robbins, the world’s biggest — and oldest — ice cream chain, we Canadians are just as likely to choose mint chocolate chip as our cone of choice — it’s Baskin-Robbins’ biggest seller in Canada. I’d have thought something maple would have shown its sticky face, but second and third place go to vanilla, then pralines and cream.

And pity the poor ice cream scooper. Ice cream season lays bare personality types: those who know, unwaveringly, what flavour they’re going to order when they go out for a cone, and those who are thrown into wrenching self-examination by the many options available. Growing up, we had a family ritual of going for ice cream on the last day of school. My dad, an accountant, would select vanilla from the flavour ledger. My mom, a woman who at any moment might run away with the circus, could be counted on to order rum raisin. My older brother chose strawberry, a choice that confounded me. My younger brother would go for something different each time. My little sister would wait to see what I was ordering — and I was ordering chocolate, no two ways about it. Life may be uncertain, but chocolate ice cream has never failed me.

Given that many of us console ourselves with a pint of ice cream, it’s surprising you don’t see vague flavours like, You Deserve Better, or Brighter Days Ahead. It’s chocolate or a chocolate variation, however, that takes first place in the ice cream sweepstakes. Vanilla is never the bride and always the bridesmaid. Third place is a toss up. The science on all this is about as perishable as an ice cream cone on a July day. Some stats declare that strawberry ice cream takes third place. Nevertheless, the top five always seem to include chocolate mint, butter pecan, and strawberry. Who really cares? It’s ice cream! Any summer day is immeasurably improved by an ice cream cone. In a pinch, I’ll take whatever is in fifth place. And make it three scoops, will ya?

Would you like to take the family out for ice cream cones courtesy of The Bookless Club? I’ll send a $20 Baskin-Robbins gift certificate to the first 15 people to sign up at janemacdougall.com.

Jane Macdougall is a freelance writer and former National Post columnist who lives in Vancouver.  She will be writing on The Bookless Club every Saturday online and in The Vancouver Sun. For more of what Jane’s up to, check out her website, janemacdougall.com

This week’s question for readers:

What is your go-to flavour when you get two scoops? Ever made ice cream at home? Any ice cream stories to share?

Send your answers by email text, not an attachment, in 100 words or less, along with your full name to Jane at thebooklessclub@gmail.com. We will print some next week in this space.

Responses to last week’s question for readers:

How ready are you for space travel? Would you take the flight if you won the tickets?

• I’d rather go to Maui than to Mars. Thanks just the same, Sir Richard. I’ll sell the tickets if I win and buy Corona vaccine and send it to needy countries.

Valentin Yersian

• I enjoyed your column last Saturday, and was reminded of a letter to the editor in The Globe earlier in the week.

“Back when feminist gains were tough slogging, we used to roll our eyes and say, ‘If they can put a man on the moon, why not put them all there?'”

Tweaked for 2021: “If they can launch three billionaires into space, why not send them all there?”

Liz Armstrong

• To think that in my lifetime, I’ve seen the first person go into space, a man walk on the moon, the launch of the International Space Station, and now space tourism is an option for ordinary citizens. Amazing!

L.E. “Ellie” Smith

• I think I’ll wait while they sort out the inevitable kinks in private space travel. I mean, what if they lose my luggage? Or worse?

Roz Luis