We all scream for bing qi lin – sounds funny, but rings true

I walked into my office building today and bumped into my colleague enjoying a milky popsicle. It was 9:15. “Ice cream for breakfast?” I asked. “I was rushing this morning,” he responded and proceeded to eat his “power bar.”

The popularity of ice cream in China has always shocked me. Ice cream goes “against” 2.5 principles of the Chinese diet. One, it’s cold. Two, it’s dairy. And the last half reason is that it’s sweet (this only gets half a point because I have yet to fully believe that there is truly an adversity to sweets – when I bring in chocolate chip cookies to the office or when we have a colleague’s birthday cake, seconds are had).

But lo and behold, the temperature heats up and out come the cones, popsicles, and ice cream cups. (In the winter when I lived in Harbin, my classmates told me that ice cream containers were put on the side walk as no refrigeration was needed in the frigid temperatures. I cannot claim to have seen this as I did not leave my dorm except to run to class at that point).

So it should come as no surprise that the Irish research company Research and Markets has announced the addition of “The 2007-2012 Outlook for Ice Cream Mixes in Greater China” to their offering (my humble and free market overview: it’s big). Also this week, South Korean company Lotte announced the establishment of its Wholly Foreign Owned Lotte China, which plans to expand its operations beyond chewing gum to include the favorite summer treat.

The selection in stores is already extensive – the xiao mai bu (or small convience store) in my neighborhood has 3 freezers filled with chocolate, milk, fruit, corn and red bean flavored ice cream and popsicles. And to add to the mix of Haagen Daz, Dairy Queen, and even the one or two Baskin Robbins in Beijing, two Harvard graduates are embracing ice cream as their China Dream and have opened the shop Sprinkles in Oriental Plaza.

One question remains: Ben & Jerry’s where are ya? Given Unilever’s acquisition of B&J and the former’s strong presence in China, Beijing Super Red Bean Chunk should be just around the corner (please?).

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