Settle the Debate Montana. Are You an Ice Cream Biter or Licker?

In a bad mood? Fix it with an ice cream cone.

Earlier this week I ran into some relatively minor - yet extremely frustrating - technical issues here at the broadcast center. It was too early to start drinking and I still had work to do. So in lieu of booze, I went for some ice cream. Backing away from my keyboard, I stormed out of the office, zipped down the elevator, and walked a block or so to get some delicious frozen dairy and chill my bad attitude a little bit.

Bite or lick?

As I strolled down the sidewalk enjoying my refreshing treat - salted caramel, single scoop, waffle cone - I noticed I am an ice cream biter. Not a licker. And after poking around the far corners of the internet, it seems that I'm not alone. According to this PR piece from the Carvel ice cream company, 26% of ice cream cone eaters prefer to bite it. 44% are lickers. What about the remaining 30%? It doesn't say. Perhaps they're lactose intolerant. Or even worse, they eat their cones with a spoon? The horror.

Wait... sometimes I'm a licker.

Upon deeper reflection, I think it depends on if I'm having a soft-serve cone, like the one on the left vs. a regular "hard" scoop of ice cream. I'll lick that soft serve cone like a cow on a salt block. But not the scooped ice cream cones. I bite into that creamy goodness. Perhaps it's from a childhood fear of aggressive licking that causes the scoop to fall to the ground disappointingly.

The folks at Spoon University wrote this fun article that describes your personality based on the way you devour an ice cream cone. Beware of the biters, they said.