As noted in the Flickr photo description: Okay so this picture makes me look at least slightly insane, but you should be used to that from me by now.
Indeed.
Anyway, here’s the thing. I love Superman ice cream. It’s been my favorite pretty much all my life. It’s a strange thing to talk about to people because so many don’t have any idea what it is. I didn’t know until sometime this decade that it was only available in this part of the world. I’ve heard that it’s a purely midwestern phenomenon, this Superman ice cream, but then, I’ve talked to several midwesterners who have never seen it or heard of it before in their lives, so maybe it’s just a Michigan thing. This is one of the reasons I am so happy to be living in Michigan today.
When I was a kid, Superman was always my choice when I was doing anything that involved buying ice cream. It’s colorful, for one thing. For another thing, it doesn’t have stuff in it. It’s taken me a long time to get to the point where ice cream with stuff in it doesn’t completely freak me out, but still I prefer my ice cream to be stuff-free. I remember being at a birthday party once when I was a kid and there was black cherry ice cream with big cherries in it and I think I might have cried. Just so you know. Cherries make me bawl.
I’ve been asked more than once by people who have never seen or eaten Superman ice cream whether or not it’s just vanilla ice cream dyed to Superman colors, and it’s not, my friends. It’s three flavors of ice cream working together in wonderful harmony, sort of like Neapolitan, but much better (I kind of hate Neapolitan ice cream). There’s actually some debate over what the flavors are. Well, it’s clear what the blue flavor is (Blue Moon — apparently another Michigan thing — and people debate over what exactly it tastes like, though I think it’s perfectly obvious that it is the flavor of awesomeness and joy), but the red and yellow flavors are a mystery. Some people say that the yellow is banana (it’s not, or I would hate it) and that the red is raspberry or strawberry. Well, I happen to have some Superman ice cream in my freezer right now, and so I can confirm that the red is cherry, the yellow is vanilla with some kind of really bright, possibly radioactive food coloring (yum!) and the blue is Blue Moon. So there.
Now that I am aggressively pushing 30, I get made fun of for always ordering Superman ice cream, like I should want to eat some kind of grown-up ice cream, like butter pecan (see above about my opinion about stuff in ice cream, which doesn’t count if the stuff comes in cookie form, sometimes), but whatever, I like what I like. It’s not that other types of ice cream don’t have their merits, because they do, and there are several types I wouldn’t turn down if someone offered them to me. But to me there’s more to Superman ice cream than just the ice cream. Logically, I know this isn’t true, but like many things that end up being important and/or much-loved, Superman is, for me, in some way a stand-in for so many of the things that are great about this time of year when it’s warm enough to sit around outside eating ice cream. The main association is with long summer days that involved a lot of running and running and stopping for ice cream and eating as fast as I could, trying to prevent the melted river of blue-yellow-red from running down my arm and then running and running some more and catching fireflies and then collapsing into bed, exhausted after a good day. I feel a little bit of that old just-so-exhilarated-about-everything whenever I have Superman ice cream. And there’s also the fact that it’s just so damn good.
Also it turns my tongue blue, and there’s no beating that.
Now I get Superman ice cream.
Posted by Preeti | June 10, 2009, 3:01 pmFor me the flavor of summer is peanut butter ripple, but that may indeed fall under the category of stuff in ice cream. But either way, ice cream and summer make total sense.
Posted by mennogirl | June 10, 2009, 3:26 pmI had no idea there was something called Superman ice cream. And we sure don’t get it down here. Damn, I want me some Superman ice cream. I wonder if I can order some.
But again, yet another reason to move to Michigan.
Posted by SA | June 10, 2009, 8:59 pmI’d nver heard of this flavor(s) before I started reading your blog. As much as I LOVE Superman, I don’t think this ice cream’s quite my cup of tea. Strawberry ice cream, on the other hand…
Posted by Fraulein N | June 10, 2009, 9:02 pmI didn’t realize until a few years ago that it was a Michigan thing, either (actually, I think you *can* buy it in Ohio Kroger’s, but it is more difficult to find) until I was talking about it with some friends and they just kind of looked at me. And now one talks about how he wants to try this weird thing that comes from my “village” (I do not come from a village).
Also, I think the name might be a specific brand? I was at Meijer the other day and they had Scooperman. I did not realize this, either.
Posted by Cheryl | June 11, 2009, 8:29 amHee! There’s something vaguely sad about “Scooperman.”
Posted by Fraulein N | June 11, 2009, 11:41 amMaybe not purely a midwestern thing? It exists in Utah…
Posted by Sh | June 11, 2009, 10:07 pmWhere in Utah? I moved to UT from MI and haven’t see it. Would love to know where I can get it.
Posted by Nichole | July 16, 2011, 5:47 pmI used to eat it here in Utah when I was a kid. I havent seen it for 15 years.
Posted by lmno | January 27, 2012, 2:03 pmdespite having been born in Michigan and living there until i was 23-ish, this is the first i’ve heard of Superman ice cream. i DID grow up with Faygo “pop”, as they say, particularly their signature brew, “Rock & Rye”. did you have that in your region? we got the fixin’s for a float happening here…
“at least slightly insane” is about right, yes.
Posted by Steven D. | June 14, 2009, 2:43 amI am from Wellington, Alabama and I have a humungous tub of superman ice cream in my freezer right now. Although its hard to find around here I have discovered that a local grocery store carries it. Its been my favorite flavor of ice cream for as long as I can remember. Outside of my family no one has a clue what I’m talking about. I think the kind I get is a different brand than yours because the red in mine taste kinda like bubble gum, the yellow taste like vanilla, and the blue must be blue moon because my taste buds can’t make sense of it. If I ever go to Michigan I will most definitely try some of Michigan’s superman ice cream.
Posted by Regina K. | June 19, 2009, 1:57 pmOk, I saw Superman ice cream the last time I took the kids out. Leif had it and liked it.
Totally new to us!
Posted by Betty | June 24, 2009, 7:31 pmThis superman icecream thing is so confusing. I’m from Ohio… when I was a kid, I used to get it in Michigan (Indian River area). Anyway, growing up I’ve looked for it everywhere. I actually found it at some Ohio Kroger stores (in a giant tub of non-branded icream called “superman”). The problem, is that this version of superman doesn’t taste like what I remember from Michigan. I suppse it could be that at 30, I remeber the Superman in Michigan tasting a certain way back when I was 8. And in reality – maybe my memory (or tastebuds) have changed. But if anyone has any ideas where I might be able to find it in Ohio (obviously, not at Kroger since it tastes “wront”) – post it as a comment please!
Posted by Nick | June 28, 2009, 8:52 pmI’ve lived in metro Detroit my whole life and love trying to explain Superman to people that’ve never had it. I also happened to find it at a local Kroger store for dirt cheap and said gallon now lives happily in my freezer. I may have to attack it with a spoon (bowls? We don’t need no stinkin’ bowls!) sometime soon.
Posted by Kim | July 2, 2009, 9:17 pmTo Nick am anyone else who lives in Ohio, especially around the Metropolitan areas (Columbus, Cinci, etc) to can find Superman at any United Dairy Farmers (UDF) store, (you know the store that looks like a gas station, without the gas) and its not packaged, you actually order it by scoops, and they scoop it out right in front of you. i think they might have some UDF’s in Indiana as well. But the UDF’s stores are definitely all around Columbus. Oh i forgot, if they dont have it on the ice cream stand they usually sell pints of it in their freezers, either you get Superman. Remember, UDF- United Dairy Farmers.
Posted by Bob | July 27, 2009, 4:03 amThannnkkkk Youuuu!-Finally someone who is a loyal follower of SM like me….Don’t feel bad, I’m 42 and still indulge. Problem is I’ve been career military and I haven’t been home (Michigan) in years. I am currently living in Hinesville( 3ID-Fort Stewart, GA) since my retirement in 2004. I’ve been stationed just about everywhere and have been very unsuccessful in locating it except when I was @Redstone Arsenal in AL. I have been in a SM coma since I been here. Baskin Robbins doesn’t even have a clue what it is. Where is it in Michigan? I have no prob w contacing and request it be sent to me.Can you help w this. Send an email PLEASE!!!!
Posted by Danneise K Dase | April 4, 2010, 12:21 amHey Jamelah:
Please visit my “blog”: http://www.supermanicecream.com
I want to unite the Superman Ice Cream lovers of the web into one resource so we can more effectively evangelize for this amazing flavor!
And, I want to try to help people find Superman Ice Cream near where they live if they haven’t found it yet!
Posted by supermanicecream | April 14, 2010, 3:28 amOMG they use to have that flavor here in California about 15 years ago at K-mart when they had the snack stan. I use to always get that flavor and loved it but when they shut the snack stan down I was so sad cause my ice cream was gone. They eventually shut that K-mart down about 7 years ago. I was just randomly remembering my fav ice cream and deceided to look it up. Never thought they still had it. I am going to Michigan!!!!
Posted by Dianna Ramirez | April 27, 2010, 1:02 pm