TRAVIS LEFEVRE
Assistant Lampoon Editor
Ben & Jerry’s has been known for its crazy creative flavors. In a new twist, Ben & Jerry’s co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield have done the unthinkable — they made politics sweet.
“Sweet” in the literal sense, that is, by making an ice cream flavor in honor of Vermont Senator and presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. Made in limited quantities, “Bernie’s Yearning” is a metaphor for the Sanders campaign.
The ice cream is mostly mint flavored to represent the average American, and then there’s a solid chocolate layer on top to represent the one percent of Americans with the majority of wealth. Now here’s where the metaphor kicks in: what you’re suppose to do is beat the living hell out of the chocolate layer with your spoon, and then mix it with the mint.
While it may sound like Cohen and Greenfield are advocating the bludgeoning of billionaires, it is really supposed to represent how wealth could be more equally distributed to the struggling American.
There is one oddity about the newest addition to Ben & Jerry’s arsenal. The supposed “mint” flavor actually tastes like Sanders himself.
This change of flavor became noticed when Ben & Jerry’s sent out 25 of its 40 pints of the ice cream to the Sanders campaign.
“I noticed right away that it tasted like Bernie,” began Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager. “I mean, I don’t know what Bernie tastes like, but the flavor definitely wasn’t mint.”
When asked to describe the flavor, he wasn’t exactly sure where to begin.
“It was like, flakey. I picked out a lot of grey hairs, and it has this weird ‘democratic socialist’ taste to it, as well. The chocolate was the only flavor that actually stuck around, and it made it all taste right, oddly enough,” stated Weaver.
Cohen and Greenfield sat down with the Lampoon to explain their reasoning for not revealing the Sanders flavor sooner.
“We didn’t think anyone would want to buy ice cream that tastes like a senator. People would be repulsed immediately,” began Cohen. “So we just did a little temporary re-labeling so people wouldn’t knock it before they tried it.”
Greenfield had a similar response, but with a slightly different outlook.
“We wanted to revolutionize the ice cream industry, and the only way to do that is to introduce a brand new original flavor. Thus the Sanders flavor was born, with relabeling as a form of surprise. It’s genius!” explained Greenfield.
Only 15 of these pints exist since the majority were given to Sanders and his campaign. If you want to know what your favorite Vermont senator tastes like, try your hand at getting one of these cartons, and join the ice cream revolution!