Date: 1985-06-13
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I am frankly amazed the space shuttle hasnt sent back photographs showing a huge scoop of ice cream straddling the middle of North Americawhat with Americans eating more than 8 billion dollars worth of - ice cream every year. We outstrip any other nation in terms of ice cream consumption. Ice cream once was associated with summer months. baseball. trips to the beach and so on. Now ice cream is literally associated with any kind of party. gettogether. family event or the like. The way Americans eat ice cream. I imagine a closed circuit camera would show folks at home nearly every week of the year freely consuming as much ice cream as they could possibly hold. And if you dont think theyre sharing it with the family poochlook again. Theres just no disputing the role ice cream plays in the lives of everyone. The best way to slide through the 11 p.m. news is with a bowl of ice cream. the best way to break up the afternoon at 4 p.m. is with ice cream. I even know the story of a young man who was entrusted with his 3yearold nephew for the daytook the tot to a hamburger restaurant and when he saw his nephew turning his nose up at the french fries. he. dipped one of them into an ice cream sundae and the little fellow ate the whole sack of french fries. Last year I sponsored a resolution naming July 1984 as "National Ice Cream Month" and the second Sunday in July as "National Ice Cream Day." It was so overwhelmingly supported by colleagues on both sides of the aisle that it convinced me bipartisanship was alive and well. I make these remarks today in advance of Ice Cream Day on July 14 because our friends in the ice cream industry are planning their annual "Ice Cream for America" party on June 20 in the courtyard of the Russell Senate Office Building. People from all over Washington trek down to the courtyard for the citys biggest ice cream party. It is the official kickoff event for Ice Cream Month in July. Along with you. Mr. Speaker. and Senators DOLE and HELMswe will serve as "Honorary Chairmen and Ice Cream Lovers Extraordinaire" on June 20. When we ceremonially consume a scoop and morewe do so in the name of our fellow American who eats. on the per capita average. about 4 gallons of ice cream a year. And we know that out of 250 million people in this countrya whopping majority skew that statistic on the high side by eating enough ice cream to show a $8 billion retail sales figure. If taste is not enough for some to justify such consumptionwe should remember that ice cream in over 60 flavors provides over nine essential vitamins. minerals. and proteins that come from one single sourceour old friend the contented cow. The cow is an amazing animal giving us vitamins A. C. and D. thiamine. niacin. riboflavin. iron.. and essential. calcium for bone growth. Its hard to find another food source as rich in nutrition as ice creamand lest we forget. in the very end. our bovine friends also provide us with hamburger. So if you find yourself at midnight and your freezer with no ice creamand you head out into the still of the night for a 24hour storejust remember the words of the American poet Wallace Stevens who said. "Let the lamp affix its beam. the only emperor is the emperor of ice cream." Besides that its good for you. itrs just plain good.