Bernie’s Yearning

Back in October of 2015 Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream co-founders Jerry Greenfield and Ben Cohen announced their endorsement of Democrat senator Bernie Sanders in his run for the presidency. 

The two men sold their ice cream business in 2000 to Unilever, a British-Dutch conglomerate, for $325 million.  Part of the deal struck with Unilever allowed provisions for Ben & Jerry’s to maintain its existing mission with lefty wing-nut groups such as True Majority and Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities.  They also recently promoted the widely unpopular Iran nuclear deal in a fundraising effort by MoveOn.org.

On Thursday, January 7th, Cohen (who is no longer affiliated with the company) said in an MSNBC interview, there are no plans for a flavor named after Sanders despite his reference to one in October.  He said the flavor could be called “Bernie’s Yearning”.

“When you open up the pint, there’s this big disk of chocolate on the top, covering the entire top, and below it is just plain mint ice cream,” Cohen said.

“And the disk of chocolate represents the 90% of the wealth that has gone to the top 10% over the last ten years. The way you eat it is that you take your spoon—you whack that big chocolate disk into a bunch of little pieces and you mix it around and there you have it:  ‘Bernie’s Yearning’.”

Previously, Cohen shared another Sanders ice cream idea with Business Insider. It would be called "Bernie's Rebellion" and would include "all good things."

"I mean, there might be some chocolate chips molded in the shape of a cap that you wear for graduation to symbolize his stance in favor of free college education and reduced student loan rates," he said. "I think that there might be equal numbers of peanuts and pecans to symbolize his initiatives to reduce economic inequality."

I like ice cream as much as the next person and love to slop up on the couch to indulge in a cool, creamy bowl of heaven.   After all, ice cream is condensed happiness is it not? During the summer months, I’ve been known to elbow the neighborhood rugrats out of the way when the ice cream man’s truck drives by, but I will never waste a cent of my money on any product that supports a self-proclaimed socialist who “honeymooned in the Soviet Union and never came back.”