Ice cream research shows: men bite and women lick

Next Sunday (19 July) is World Ice Cream Day. In light of this, Deliveroo conducted research into ice cream preferences among more than a thousand Dutch people. And these are the chilling conclusions.

Ice cream versus frozen yoghurt

The fact that most Dutch people enjoy ice cream is reflected in Deliveroo’s orders. There has been a growing trend in dessert orders in general, and ice cream in particular. Frozen yoghurt, for example, became increasingly popular in recent years, but since the coronavirus outbreak this trend has come to a slight standstill. During lockdown, however, there was an increase in the number of ice cream orders compared with the same period last year.

Men bite and women lick

How you eat your ice cream remains a topic of debate among ice cream fans. To finally bring some clarity, Deliveroo also put this question to the respondents. The research showed that a small majority of respondents lick their ice cream (48% versus 42%). They prefer to do this from a cone, decorated with real chocolate sauce. If they choose a topping at all, that is, since most people prefer their ice cream without one. There is a difference between how men and women prefer to eat their ice cream: men go for biting, while women prefer licking their ice cream.

There were also people who are not really that fond of ice cream at all (huh?), which was the case for no less than 10% of those surveyed. Among the respondents, it was mainly people aged 55+ who said they did not particularly like ice cream. Almost none of those aged 18–24 (just 1%) said they did not like ice cream.

Residents of The Hague are the Netherlands’ biggest ice cream lovers

Residents of The Hague rank a clear number one when it comes to being the biggest ice cream lovers. They order more ice cream than anyone else, followed by Amsterdam. Tilburg residents also cannot resist an ice cream, putting them in third place for the highest number of ice cream orders per resident. Classic flavours remain the most popular—pistachio ice cream is the ultimate favourite at number one, followed by stracciatella and chocolate in positions two and three on the list.

Popular ice cream parlours

Curious where Dutch people prefer to get their favourite ice cream? Below is an overview of several popular ice cream parlours and restaurants in the Netherlands:

Read also:

• We need to talk about people who chew ice cream
• Ice cream with vodka and sour belts is a thing—and this is how you make it
• Heinz launches ketchup ice cream—is the world going crazy?