The Ice Cream Theory is ice-cream guru Steff Deschenes’ charming exploration of the parallels between human personalities and ice-cream flavors, a tongue-in-cheek celebration of the variety inherent in a well-lived life.
The Theory was hatched when Deschenes was trying to make sense of her first heartbreak. In the midst of that grief, she realized that, in the same way humans have ice-cream preferences, humans have people preferences. Like ice cream flavors, social preferences shift based on age, experience, even mood. There are exotic flavors that one craves when feeling daring, comforting flavors to fall back on, flavors long-enjoyed that eventually wear out their welcome, and those unique flavors that require an acquired taste. Like people, no ice cream flavor is perfect every single time . . . and it is in this realization that the crux of Deschenes’s theory lies.
Deschenes neatly brings together anecdotes from her own adventures with broader-reaching social commentary to help others recognize the wisdom and joy inherent in a beloved dessert.
With its cheeky self-help slant, The Ice Cream Theory is an endearing and light-hearted addition to any bookshelf. It’s a must read for anyone bruised by life’s tough lessons and in need of a cheerful pick me up!
Read an excerpt:
“There are loads of different flavors of ice cream: Almond, Amaretto, Banana Nut, Black Raspberry, Blueberry, Bubblegum, Butter Crunch, Butter Pecan, Cake, Caramel, Cashew Turtle, Cheesecake, Cherry Chip, Cherry Vanilla, Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, Cinnamon, Coconut, Coffee, Cookie Dough, Cookies ‘n Cream, Cotton Candy, Dulce de Leche, Egg Nog, German Chocolate Cake, Ginger, Grapenut, Green Tea, Honeycomb, Irish Cream, Key Lime Pie, Lemon, Maple Nut, Orange Pineapple, Peach, Peanut Butter Cup, Peppermint, Piña Colada, Pistachio, Pumpkin, Rocky Road, Rum Raisin, S’more, Straccaitella, Strawberry, Sweet Cream, Teaberry, Toffee, Vanilla, White Chocolate.
Just to name a few.
Nobody likes them all. Everyone I’ve ever met has eaten flavors that they couldn’t stand; flavors that they liked when they were younger and hated as adults, or hated when they were younger and loved when they were adults; flavors that they could eat all the time; flavors that they ate all the time and got sick of; flavors that they’ve never tried and haven’t had the opportunity to; flavors they’ve recommended to friends; flavors that are exotic and daring and out of the norm; flavors that are comfortable and common; flavors that they had only once because they could never find it again; flavors that they eat just because it’s there; flavors that remind them of a person, place, or time.
Because of this, to me, people are like ice cream flavors.
We get along with certain people because we have common ground with them, or they bring something new to our lives, or perhaps they balance us out. We don’t get along with certain people because we have no similarities. Or perhaps that one thing you can’t stand about yourself, you see in them.
People like or dislike certain ice cream flavors for one reason or another.
People like or dislike other people for one reason or another, too.
Once when I was at one of those ice cream parlors that make your ice cream treat on marble slats right in front of you, I had tiramisu ice cream with marshmallows and gummy bears.
Yes, it sounds disgusting. And, yes, it was disgusting.
But here’s the thing: someone, somewhere, adores tiramisu ice cream with marshmallows and gummy bears.
Just not me.
But, see, I had to try it. It seemed interesting; something new that I had never sampled before. I tried it, didn’t like it, and moved on. But I had to know what it was like because, if I didn’t, than I would have never known if I was missing out on something extraordinary.
You need to try different flavors to find out what it is you like and don’t like; what it is you don’t care if you never have again, or want to have more of immediately. If you never try any new flavors you don’t know what you could potentially be missing out on. If you stick to the same flavor over and over and over then how do you know there isn’t something better out there? Something unique to you and you alone?
I’ve tried lots of flavors of ice cream in my life, and I mean both literally and metaphorically.
I digress: many moons ago, my parents put me to the task of trying every flavor a certain ice cream company made. The prize? They would take me to this ice cream company’s factory. Understand that at the time, this company was putting out roughly thirty-six different flavors of ice cream.
That meant thirty-six different pints of ice cream.
Or one thousand one hundred-twenty tablespoonfuls.
I gained ten pounds.
I was so proud of those ten pounds, though. Who else in my world could say that they had tried every current flavor of that company’s ice cream? I strutted down the halls of the ice cream factory knowing that I had achieved a level of professional ice cream eating that no one else around me could touch.
I was invincible.
At the end of the tour, my parents bought me shirt to mark this momentous and historical moment in my life. Standing in front of the cashier, I confidently told the young college student ringing us up, “I tried every flavor your company makes.”
She looked down at me, grimaced, and said, “Wow. That’s absolutely disgusting.”
Crestfallen? Just a tad.
Regardless that my little bubble had burst and I had not gained the respect that I thought I deserved for my feat, I still got a t-shirt, ten extra pounds, and a very knowledgeable lesson in life and romance from my ice cream project.
It appeared that my ice cream experiment, at the time, paralleled my love life: I went through a lot of different flavors/boys, some that didn’t get more than a fraction of my attention, some that I thought I liked but made me nauseous in the end, some that I wish I could have had more of, and some that I learned to simply appreciate.
And thus the Ice Cream Theory was born.
ReaderViews says “What an incredible and unique way to self-reflect on experiences and relationships in our life!”
Turkey Hill says “There have been lots of books written about ice cream, from the history of the treat to how to make the world’s best homemade ice cream. But The Ice Cream Theory, written by the witty Steff Deschenes, is the first that we know of that compares everyone’s favorite treat to personality traits, relationships and life experiences. Altogether, it creates one very delicious literary sundae.”
The Ice Cream Freaks says "Like a much needed friend when you are feeling a little blue, Steff is there to lift you up and leave you better than she found you. Throughout the book, you may find yourself craving ice cream. (Go ahead and give in. It’s torture to read about ice cream without satisfying the appetite.) By the end of the book, you will be left with the urge to match ice cream flavors with the people in your life.”
You can find out more about Steff Deschenes' new book, The Ice Cream Theory, by visiting her website at www.theicecreamtheory.com. If you'd like to purchase a copy, visit Amazon or order through any of your favorite Virginia Beach bookstores.
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