Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream fame is such a fan of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, he made a brand new flavor just for the Independent Democratic senator’s campaign. This comes as no surprise, of course, as the celebrated New England ice cream maker was established in Burlington, Vt. in 1978, where it remains headquartered today. That one or both of the two men behind the famous creamery would come out in support of Sanders shouldn’t be a surprise at all.
Called “Bernie’s Yearning,” Cohen first announced the new ice cream flavor during an interview with MSNBC in early January. “There’s this big disc of chocolate covering the entire top, and below it is just plain mint ice cream,” he explained while holding a “Bernie 2016” campaign sign. “The disc of chocolate represents the 90 percent of wealth that’s gone to the top 10 percent over the last 10 years. The way you eat it is that you take your spoon and you whack that big chocolate disc into a bunch of little pieces and you mix it around, and there you have it.”
Despite his endorsement and the new flavor’s announcement, however, Cohen’s involvement with Sanders’ campaign wasn’t going to be official sanctioned by or associated with Ben & Jerry’s. Hence why Cohen made the first limited batch of Bernie’s Yearning in his own home. On Monday, he officially debuted the ice cream on his Facebook page and announced a contest for anyone interested in receiving their own pint.
“There’s been so much interest in the flavor,” said Cohen, “that I decided to actually make 40 pints in my kitchen. I donated 25 of them to Bernie’s campaign.”
No money or donations are required to register. However, anyone who desires their own sampling of Bernie’s Yearning must provide the contest with their email address, name and address. And seeing as how the contest website is hosted by BernieSanders.com, those who sign up will probably begin receiving emails and snail mail from the Sanders campaign.
Meanwhile, considering the highly euphemistic nature of the ice cream’s title, Twitter has been having fun with Cohen’s announcement.
.@benandjerrys debuting "Bernie's Yearning…Political Revolution Inside". Awaiting FEC complaint. pic via @YoBenCohen pic.twitter.com/KPOqBFW1IS
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) January 25, 2016
I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to put a big spoonful of Bernie’s Yearning in my mouth. https://t.co/RLpWvwWWed
— CJ Ciaramella (@cjciaramella) January 25, 2016
https://twitter.com/ArielCohen37/status/691652847990108160
(Via Ben Cohen on Facebook and Bernie’s Yearning)
