Amy Ettinger

Amy Ettinger is an essayist, journalist, and editor. She has written for the New York Times , New York magazine, The Washington Post , Salon , and the Huffington Post. S he lives in Santa Cruz, California, with her husband and daughter.

An Ice Cream Binge Across America

Sweet Spot

Caroline Lewicki

This is the second time I’ve been burned by a non fiction food/travel book (see my review of Slice Harvester by Colin Atrophy Hagendorf). I was so excited to read about the best and worst ice cream across the United States but this was more about the history of ice cream intertwined with the author’s personal life. I was bored throughout and confused several times as the author has a tendency to get sidetracked on tangents that take pages to loop back around to the point. It took me a while after putting this down in the summer of 2018 to pick it up again. 

I felt put off by the author, in the sense that she seemed judgy. She consistently uses the word hipster in a bit of a derogatory way and seems to really dislike the new generation of ice cream makers. While I’m not an ice cream maker, I am a part of the generation she’s referring to and felt like she was writing against me and not for me. 

I also understand that ice cream is cold but she uses the same synonyms in a punny way so often it was frustrating (the word chilly/chilled is used in a heheh get it kind of way far too often). 

Between this and Slice Harvester, I can’t say I’ll be picking up a food book any time soon.

Sweet Spot An Ice Cream Binge Across America

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