Who wants to crush their teeth on something called Rocky Road?
Ross goes through a dark stage in his divorce with Carol. Back in his apartment Ross shares with Joey and Chandler his big fear. What if there is only one woman for each man in the world and he has just lost her? But Joey can't stand that nonsense:
Joey: It is like saying there is only one flavor of ice-cream for you. Let me tell you something, Ross. There's lots of flavors out there. There's rocky road and cookie dough and bing cherry vanilla. You can get them with jimmies or nuts or whipped cream.
Who wants to crush their teeth on something called Rocky Road? Isn’t that dangerous to eat cookie dough? And how jimmies are different from sprinkles.
Who wants to crush their teeth on something called Rocky Road? Isn’t that dangerous to eat cookie dough? And how jimmies are different from sprinkles?
My name is Katia and this is Grab a Spoon. Here we overthink the world of FRIENDS, one joke at a time.
The crazy thing about Rocky Road is it doesn’t need Joey to make a true American smile. Rocky Road has a joke built inside its own story. But first what exactly goes into the Rocky Road flavor?
To imagine how does Rocky Road Ice-cream taste close your eyes. Mix a scoop of chocolate ice cream, lots of toasted almonds and lastly add a handful of tiny marshmallows. Good isn’t it?
Now imagine that before Rocky Road there were only three flavors. I’m sure no matter the country of origin we all can name them: Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry. Boring huh? That is what William Dryer, the owner of an ice-cream company in California, thought too. So one early evening in the spring of 1929 William decides to break free from the cage of the traditional flavors. Mr Dryer grabs his wife’s scissors from the drawer. And goes on to create a legend. After he cuts a few big marshmallows into small pieces and crushes some nuts he has an epiphany! This is the type of ice-cream the whole country has got to taste!
Yet it is not just nuts and marshmallows that make Rocky Road so appealing. Rocky Road has also a good bit of humor hidden right into its name. See just half a year later after a new flavor’s invention the Great Depression hits America. The second owner of that ice-cream company Joseph Edy comes up with an idea. Let’s give people something to smile about. Let’s show them that we see how bumpy and unpredictable the life has become for them. Let’s call our new flavor of chocolate ice cream filled with surprising bits a Rocky Road. So maybe uncertainty could be a good thing sometimes? At least if we are talking about a scoop of delicious ice-cream.
Americans fell in love with the relatable Rocky Road flavor. So much so, that over the next 100 years public accepted not a single update to the old recipe.
But let’s talk about other ice-cream varieties Joey mentions. What’s a cookie dough’s flavor story? Unlike Rocky Road, everyday American was already familiar with the taste of a cookie dough. Kids picked on cookie dough when, they were impatient for their sweet treats to be cooked already. Grown ups would try a bit of cookie dough before baking. You know just in case there was not enough sugar or a chocolate chips. And both kids and grown ups loved it! So that was no brainier - go on and create an ice-cream with a cookie dough flavor. But what about raw eggs’ and raw flour’ dangerous bacteria?
Apparently all you need to do is to use pasteurized eggs and pre-bake your flour before adding it to the mixture. And, viola! You have yourself a safe cookie dough to munch on.
Okey we got clear on my flavor questions. It is time for the topping named jimmies. Why does Joey call them jimmies, not sprinkles? Unlike sprinkles jimmies is not a general name for this confectionery bits. Instead jimmies is a brand name. The name jimmies got popular a 100 years ago thank to Just Born candy company from Pennsylvania. That is how jimmies became a regional name for sprinkles in the areas they were sold in. So in Philadelphia and New England including New York City, people used to call sprinkles jimmies. Also I found out, that jimmies could be a slang word for condoms. Which is actually advisory for Ross since he seem to be prone to having kids outside of wedlock. There is no way of knowing for sure what writers wanted to underline exactly with the jimmies line. But I would take both the allusion to condoms and the underlining of that special New York City vibe.
And I'd love to hear your views on how this Lizard joke was supposed to work here in a comment section
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