You Can Learn A Lot From An Ice Cream Flavor
This piece is scheduled to run in the Capital Press in the summer of 2006.Everything at the table got silent as soon as the oysters arrived. We were having lunch at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, and the wiater had suggested that I try the oysters. “Wavy,” I inquired of my lunch partner, “Do you want one of these oysters?”
“No way, man,” he exhorted. “Oysters are too weird for me.”
“It’s really hard for me to believe,” I chuckled, “That anything could be too weird for Wavy Gravy.”
“You’d be surprised,” he replied gravely.
In addition to being a humanitarian, a sage, a comedian, and a great dining companion, Wavy is a retired ice cream flavor. In 1991, Ben and Jerry’s, the populist ice cream company from Vermont, created the flavor “Wavy Gravy,” a combination of Caramel & Cashew Brazil Nut Ice Cream with a Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge Swirl & Toasted Almonds. Wavy became a “living flavor” and Ben and Jerry committed to dedicate a portion of the profits from the flavor to Wavy’s circus and performing arts camp, Camp Winnarainbow located three hours north of San Francisco, in Laytonville, Mendocino County.
“It was a great deal for about eight or nine years,” Wavy explained over lunch. “Ben and Jerry’s was sending us $30000 a year and it was a good part of our revenue stream for providing scholarships for economically disadvantaged youth to come to our camp. Then, Unilever bought the company in 2000, and a few months later I was informed that I was being de-commissioned as a flavor because I was not cost effective. I was the number two best-seller at the time, by the way.”
I remarked that the mindset of “cost effectiveness” generally embraces more homogenous products. “Those were bank-breaking ingredients,” I opined as I slurped down a kumamoto oyster. “The only way to make it less cost effective would have been to add a swirl of 24 caret gold to the mix.” We both laughed.
“Yeah,” he mused, “But cashews, toasted almonds, and hazelnuts are so good in ice cream. You can’t beat it.”
We turned our attention to the complexity of simple food and the beauty of a well-prepared, thoughtful meal. “In the summer, up at the camp,” he explained, “We grow a lot of the food that we feed the kids right on the farm. The salads are about two hours out of the ground: most people have never had food that fresh before, which is sad, really.”
I remarked that Chez Panisse stood as a monument to simplicity and flavor. “Those two things are so uncommon that they are frequently over-mystified,” I explained. “Wavy,” I inquired, “where do you think agriculture is headed?”
He pondered the question for a moment. “It’s not all bad news,” he stated. “I have nostalgia for the future and I get it from the kids. I see young people that are inspired to take up the plough and be creative. Things are moving in new directions and the times are changing for the current paradigm.”
He savored a bit of his fish before completing his thought. “Farmers need to partner up with chefs and they need to take chances together,” he said with aplomb. “To me that is a bright future for the farmers, the chefs, and the eaters.”
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posted by Brian J. Kenny @ 3:11 PM
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