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.
By: Preeti on June 10, 2009
at 3:01 pm
For 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.
By: mennogirl on June 10, 2009
at 3:26 pm
I 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.
By: SA on June 10, 2009
at 8:59 pm
I’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…
By: Fraulein N on June 10, 2009
at 9:02 pm
I 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.
By: Cheryl on June 11, 2009
at 8:29 am
Hee! There’s something vaguely sad about “Scooperman.”
By: Fraulein N on June 11, 2009
at 11:41 am
Maybe not purely a midwestern thing? It exists in Utah…
By: Sh on June 11, 2009
at 10:07 pm
despite 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.
By: Steven D. on June 14, 2009
at 2:43 am
I 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.
By: Regina K. on June 19, 2009
at 1:57 pm
Ok, I saw Superman ice cream the last time I took the kids out. Leif had it and liked it.
Totally new to us!
By: Betty on June 24, 2009
at 7:31 pm
This 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!
By: Nick on June 28, 2009
at 8:52 pm
I’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.
By: Kim on July 2, 2009
at 9:17 pm
To 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.
By: Bob on July 27, 2009
at 4:03 am