World War 2 Ice Cream of the US NAVY

[@TastingHistory]

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[@jonathanbair523]

It is funny, was just watching a vid last night about a distoryer who demanded the aircraft carrier trade them the downed saved pilot for ice cream... Now this!!!! Max for the win! *dose happy dance*

[@neverlistentome]

You missed a golden opportunity to Collab with the fat electrician who recently did a video about the floating creamery to supply the troops.

[@kylekim5923]

Something interesting about ice cream in the US Military: Sometime after WW2, a Marine Officer (whose name escapes me atm) complained that modern Marines weren’t “manly” enough since they were consuming icecream instead of chomping cigars and chugging whiskey.

[@shadodragonette]

I got new glasses last week, and I still don't think you look 40! Maybe 35 instead of me thinking you looked 30 on your 40th bday, but still not 40.

[@brianwarren2042]

One note. The "e" in "Gedunk" is a long vowel sound like "bee".

[@ashamar]

Just to backup the history of Ice Cream in the US Navy. I am a former US Submarine Sailor. As you can imagine, space on a submarine is at a premium, especially in the galley and on the mess decks, but all US Subs have a soft serve ice cream machine and the cooks make certain that it is filled and running for as long as possible during an underway. It is a huge moral booster. We even had one Captain that made it a priority to not only ensure that we had adequate stores of ice cream, but actually instructed the cooks to bypass the normal Navy procurement and go out and buy much better tasting commercial ice cream mix. When you are literally thousands of miles from home, it can make a huge difference.

[@supergeek1418]

I wish that *our* captain had done that. The "official" ice cream mix was pretty generic...

[@A88mph]

The ship my grandpa served on had an ice cream machine as well. He said ice cream was their greatest bargaining chip out at sea.

[@jehoiakimelidoronila5450]

When you said "procurement", I automatically thought you meant getting something from the *"lowest bidder"* (fancy way of saying "cheap price but low/lowest grade")

[@Blu3Jao]

Some fast attacks don't have ice cream machines, but we do supposedly get more hardpack.

[@ashamar]

@@Blu3Jao Really?!? I was on a 688 in the 90's. When did they pull them off?

[@sharkscrapper]

I'm a retired US Navy Captain, 25 years. I can't begin to tell you how important ice cream was to the crew when we were deployed. The three things I always checked twice during a replenishment was ice cream, sodas and ammo...in that order 🤣🤣

[@kevincrosby1760]

Hmm.. We never ran out of such things. I just can't figure out why... IC2 USS Kansas City (AOR-3)

[@sjones5616]

… and and tobacco. Crazy to see an IC comment. For some reason they always grouped me, an MC, with y’all when I was plucked from my NPASE HQ to tag along for a deployment on a destroyer.

[@Taolan8472]

Always nice to hear about officers that had their priorities in order.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

I recall my second cruise... The lower reefers went out, and we ended up "getting rid" of nearly 2 tons of ice cream "before it went off"... Thankfully, we were only about a week from Rota, Spain... Whereupon (of course) we were stuck the extra 2 weeks to get the parts and tools to fix those reefers and onload fresh supplies (of ice cream) to replace what we'd been "so unfortunately forced to eat"... ;o)

[@studinthemaking]

What about coffee and smokes?

[@marcuscorder]

I was in the US Army Infantry, and was in Iraq. More than once our 1st Sgt went out of his way to make our company ice cream and smoothies, even getting ingredients from locals. He personally took cups and ice cream cones to guard positions, on the roof and at the gate too. It was the height of summer, 104 degrees F, and there was nothing more pleasing than being handed a cone of berry ice cream out of nowhere by my 1st Sgt, and having him take my position for a couple minutes so I could enjoy it.

[@ericcameron7273]

You had one hell of a Top Kick.

[@dakiler2028]

God damn, I would follow that NCO through the gates of hell. What a lad..

[@aniquinstark4347]

Now that is an inspiring leader

[@trinitywright7122]

Well bless you

[@jackhames3874]

When I got back to Bagram after my first time going out to a COP, me and the boys went to the DFAC and gorged on so much ice cream. Pissed off the Georgian soldiers who were there waiting their turn lol

[@Dauntless2000]

I'm now a crying mess. My grandfather served in World War II as a "dry goods cook" (fancy term for the guy making the bread, biscuits, pies, and cakes) in the Army. The same book you got the recipe from was the same book my grandfather had and we displayed it at his funeral many years ago. One of my fondest memories of my grandpa was us sitting in the backyard making ice cream. Watching a video about making ice cream from my grandfather's cookbook brought those memories back and how much I miss him. Thanks for that.

[@housemana]

he will always be alive in your heart and memories. living for two now

[@morganschiller2288]

How sweet 🤗

[@kirbyculp3449]

Respect. Was it true that the Navy got the gravy and the Army got the beans?

[@Dauntless2000]

@@kirbyculp3449 Can't really say, but the weird thing was Grandpa never talked about his service until my dad and I came along. Dad was in the Army, served in Germany during the Vietnam war and I loved history so he was happy to talk about it with us. One of his favorite stories was the dinner he got in trouble with the rest of the cooking staff because the soldiers got into a food fight over his pies. He decided to make biscuits for biscuits and gravy to take care of the hurt feelings.

[@adedow1333]

What a beautiful thing!

[@sindarpeacheyeisacommie8688]

Having been a soldier deployed, I can tell you that food is essential to morale. I recall the day in Somalia when we got bread and Coca-Cola. The Coke was warm and the bread was what was called a shelf stable, irradiated bun. I was giddy happy with both. I hid my bread in my helmet under my bunk while I hatched plots about how best to eat it. I finally settled on a piece of ham from the ham steak MRE with lots of MRE cheddar cheese. It made a fine sandwich. And warm Coke is never so good as when you haven't had anything like it for months and months.

[@smileysatanson3404]

oh i get that, my dad was a truck driver and ate nothing but bread for a week, he didnt care what it was but when he came home, he was happy he got a warm delicious meal, no matter what it was

[@eacaraxe]

The Bridgford shelf-stable bread? They don't fuck around, it's better than most of you find in the bread aisle in my opinion. I'm a civvie, and a day I get my hands on it is a good day.

[@datuputi777]

Things I would never miss 😅 but I guess each to his own.

[@adrianghandtchi1562]

@FlyingMonkies325 well there you go. It’s not quite about the beverage it’s more about when your days are miserable and you are rarely allowed to indulge and this is your chance.

[@songsthatarecatchy]

Humans aren't meant for war. Stop doing that.

[@faketheo3432]

I'm from Germany and my grandpa always tells me stories about how when he was a little kid in the 1940s, his nanny brought him to the local US barracks. There he was put in a corner with buckets full of ice cream while his nanny went on dates with one of the soldiers. I showed him this video even though he barely speaks any english (I translated for it him) when he saw the ice cream and for a moment i could see this glow in his eyes like he was again this little carefree boy in the barracks with buckets of ice cream surrounding him

[@MattPSU02]

Great story.

[@DamplyDoo]

Thanks for preserving this piece of history

[@laurakoby806]

You should make the ice cream from this recipe for him and then tell us what happens.

[@florencepierce1864]

omg! I am picturing this KID just COVERED in Ice Cream & saying to his Mother: wassn' meeee! i din' do it!

[@denisemayosky1955]

​@@florencepierce1864 😂😂😂

[@madisonhasson8981]

My grandpa had that same cook book. He once used it to make donuts. He forgot it was donuts for an entire ship, so when it came time to let the donuts rise, they had donuts on EVERY level surface. They ended up spending the rest of the afternoon giving away dozens of donuts.

[@georgiafrye2815]

@Madison Hasson. I bet your Grandfather was a fantastic cook? We had a retired Navy Cook in our town that had an annual Hobo Dinner at one of the local taverns. I heard it was great. Corn, potatoes, sausages, all roasted in the ground. Thank you for sharing your story. I bet he cut down the recipes after that.

[@buckstop]

I had a similar experience. I went to Salt Lake City for vacation and came across this place that sold "Mormon muffins". They were some of the best muffins I ever had and I had to get the recipe. Lucky for me I was able to find it online and proceeded to make it a few days later but I forgot they were *Mormon* muffins and ended up making 40 servings. My neighbors were happy about that

[@madisonhasson8981]

​@@georgiafrye2815 he was a cook in the WW2 merchant marine. Yes, he was a great cook.

[@austereatonements154]

@@madisonhasson8981 My grandfather was a merchant marine cook in the 60s, I have never seen a faster potato peeler than him

[@kamilarosinska5404]

😆

[@TucsonHippy]

The navy isnt the only branch who believed ice cream improved morale. I spent 20 years Air Force and when we had deployments we had ice cream. It was usually soft serve, help yourself. For some reason the AF never stocked ice cream cones. One time when deployed to Taif Saudi Arabia, I wrote my family and asked them to please send Waffles Cones with the next care package along with good toilet paper and other sundries. The cones arrived shortly after and I went to the chow hall with the cone hidden. After the meal I went to the soft serve machine and created a glorious soft serve chocolate ice cream cone. It almost started a riot, but I did share eventually.

[@TheDagraner4576]

We had ice cream machines that worked once in a while when I was in the Army, so that was nice.

[@supergeek1418]

Aboard the USS Thomas Edison (SSBN610) we also had a self serve soft serve ice cream machine, but we did have cup-cones - which almost everybody used --- except for one big old chief quartermaster. He would take a large serving bowl, fill it up with soft serve, sprinkle it with nuts, candy bar pieces, pancake syrup, and anything else he thought would taste good, and then nosh the whole thing. It would really tick us off, because (as often as not) he'd run the ice cream machine empty.

[@dragonwitch27]

Perhaps cones are too fragile to transport on a large scale?

[@bradyvelvet9432]

😂😂 My dad had a similar experience in the AF. Hello from an Air Force brat! 👋 🇺🇸 ❤

[@gregoryborton6598]

I knew a vet from WW2 here in canada, served on the HMCS Haida, doing convoy escort runs. He said the food on Canadian ships left a lot to be desired. Basically anything aside from the flour used to make the bread came in a tin. What they did get though was a daily rum ration, whereas all the American ships were dry. The ration came in a big wooden keg, one for each day of the journey, and would be broken open by an officer, whatever was left over got poured down the drain. The sailors unscrewed the sink drain and put a bucket underneath to collect the left over rum for the day. They'd save this up, and depending on the sailor, either get extra drunk with it, or more pragmatically trade it with American sailors when they got resupplied at sea by American ships for stuff like fresh fruit, meat, and of course- ice cream. Personally I'd keep the rum, but I guess after being at sea for weeks on end eating canned meat, a fresh orange looks pretty good.

[@chriskoch1241]

My dad is a Korean War vet who was shipped over there on a long sea voyage. All the guys were young - many, like him, even lied about their age and could be a young as 16. By the time they were about 3/4 through the voyage, all the emotions and stress were running high and fights began to break out. The cooks, however, knew what to do: the only milk they had was powdered, but they chilled it to the point of near brain-freeze, so it seemed more like real milk. Then they made plain, old-fashioned PBJ sandwiches, carefully cut corner-to-corner -- all like Mom used to do. Then a general call was made across all decks that the soldiers were to report to mess...for a snack. It was like an after-school or bedtime treat. Morale was re-established and everyone made it to port in good order.

[@shadmandem918]

What a lovely story. Thank you for sharing!

[@alchemysaga3745]

Something a bit heartwarming about putting aside the hardass-attitude of stereotypical military treatment and just... treating children who got themselves into something they had no understanding of the severity of like... well. The children they very much still were.

[@chriskoch1241]

@@alchemysaga3745 Well said.

[@alchemysaga3745]

​ @chriskoch1241 Nearly three months on, I still think about this comment of yours and get choked up thinking about the children- and regardless of whether people think they 'should' be called young men, 16 is still very much a child to me (at a whopping 28 years old)- caught up in messes so much larger than they were, in their desire to do good in the world. And also those who still are. I don't know, I just thought you might like to know that at least one more person remembers some part of your grandfather's life and legacy.

[@chriskoch1241]

@@alchemysaga3745 It does matter. And I appreciate that you reached out. I will let him know.

[@alicemorrison1518]

Ice cream continues to be a HUGE morale issue with installations like the Antarctic Research Station, they had a whole funeral for their ice cream machine when it became unrepairable. There's an artist out there who is still trying to fix it up because it meant so much to him while he was stationed there. Shout out to Frosty, wherever you are!

[@kirbyculp3449]

Taps. Hats off.

[@oldfrend]

an ice cream machine in antarctica?!? why even; just mix up some milk, sugar and flavoring and leave it outside for like 10 minutes.

[@argusfleibeit1165]

@@oldfrend YOU stand outside and churn for 10 minutes in Antarctica. No churning, and all you get is a solid block of ice cream mix.

[@petertaylor4980]

I wonder how cold the environment needs to be to make ice-cream using just a CO2 cream whipper.

[@GiselleMF]

My father in law is a retired Navy man, and this episode explains a LOT about why there's always at least two kinds of ice cream in his freezer...

[@zoltanurmosi1143]

He is a wise man

[@erraticonteuse]

My dad's retired USAF and same 😆

[@aaronmacy9134]

My late Grandfather was stationed in the South Pacific during WW2 as a meteorologist. Throughout his life, he was a model of self control with zero vices, he never drank, never smoked, never gambled. He did however *ALWAYS* have a gallon of Vanilla and a gallon of Rocky Road ice cream in the freezer at all times, which he ate with medical precision via a fork so that he could keep the surface completely flat and level with equal depths across both containers. Plunge a spoon into his ice cream and you were a peasant ..and immediately written out of his will, lol. I miss him so much.

[@kirbyculp3449]

Respect, respect, respect.

[@borismcfinnigan3430]

​@@erraticonteuse Not the same at all

[@KitsuneAurah]

My grandfather was an American submariner in WWII. He loved to tell the story of how he endeared himself to his first submarine crew when, on his first day on board, he fixed the ice cream machine so they could finally make ice cream again. Needless to say, he made a lot of friends in the navy!

[@studinthemaking]

I just imagine the entire crew watching him fix it while smoking. Do you know what sub he was on?

[@tajb2595]

Your grandfather should be a consultant at McDonalds

[@jayytee8062]

I did not think icecream machines on subs were a thing back then. Sounds like a tall tale.

[@oscarraymond5737]

Ice cream mixers are relatively simple, in some cases being completely mechanical with no fuel/electricity needed. All you’d need is ice, which they should have in a cooler/freezer

[@jayytee8062]

@@oscarraymond5737 Yeah be quiet and stop stretching it because that's not what happened on a submarine in WW2.

[@ExUSSailor]

An anecdote like the one you told is a perfect example of why Halsey was so popular among the enlisted men under his command. He rarely wore excessive rank insignia, or, ribbons on his khakis, in fact, if you see pictures of him during the war, he's usually wearing a ball cap, and, a very lived-in looking uniform. Once, upon entering the officer's mess on the Big J, all the other officers stopped eating, and, stood to attention. Halsey just waved it off, and, said, "Gentlemen, the shooting has already started, let's dispense with all this jumping up, and, down bulls**t."

[@Jake_Steiner]

Both my Granddads served under Bull Halsey. They loved that man. They said that he was basically the Navy's version of Chesty Puller.

[@barbararey4337]

He was born in Elizabethtown, NJ.:)

[@AstorReinhardt]

Sounds like a great guy!

[@James-ep2bx]

And an officer taking lumps with their men is another moral booster(or at least a good moral loss limiter), so could see a smart pragmatic officer making sure the que was respected by even officers, a nice moral double whammy.

[@thekidfromiowa]

He had a cruiser and a destroyer named after him, but I think he deserved to have a carrier named after rather than relatively obscure politicians.

[@ph89787]

Couple of facts. 1. Ice Cream makers were usually fitted to large ships. Such as Carriers, Battleships, Cruisers and Liberty ships and even dedicated Ice Cream Barges. However in 1943, CDR Dick O'Kane of the recently commissioned Submarine USS Tang (SS-306) had his crew steal the Ice Cream Machine for USS Tennesse (BB-43). By the time the Tenessee's Crew figured out what happened, Tang was long gone. 2. One of the many duties a Destroyer assigned to the US Navy's Fast Carrier Group Task Force 38/58 has to do. Was pick-up pilots that were shot down and/or ditched into the water. In exchange, they would get Ice Cream drums in return from the carrier. However, every so often, the Destroyers would get greedy. For example, USS Kidd (DD-661) would ransom off whatever pilot they picked up for ice cream. After the mass ditching at the end of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, a destroyer (either USS Patterson DD-392 or USS Terry DD-513) approached USS Enterprise (CV-6) with a question. "How much Ice Cream is "Killer" Kane worth?" He was the CO of the Enterprise's Air Group 10 and a leading ace with VF-10's Grim Reapers. After a bit of haggling, Enterprise gave the destroyer about 25-30 gallons.

[@J069FIX]

Well, the USS Kidd had a right to fly the Jolly Roger... And they clearly proved they were worthy of it!

[@ph89787]

@@J069FIX The Pacific Theatre was bloody. But moments like this help break up the tension.

[@mmclaurin8035]

I spent many nights aboard the USS Kidd as a Cub Scout way back in the day. Still the only Destroyer in the US in her World War II configuration. If you ever take a trip to the Baton Rouge area, she's worth a visit.

[@gagamba9198]

There is excellent biography of O'Kane on the channel Unauthorized History of the Pacific War Podcast. Title is 'Episode 206: Black Panther of the Pacific - Dick O'Kane and USS Tang with special guest Drachinifel'. At Truk, USS Tang rescued 22 US pilots at one time and transported them to Pearl Harbor. Tang's crew was 80 men, and it was tight, so adding 22 more passengers was a remarkable accomplishment.

[@matman730]

My grandpa was on the Porterfield, and they totally did this at least once. To this day my grandpa is addicted to chocolate ice cream.

[@Imtheverdant1]

My father was in WW2 serving on an Aircraft Carrier in the South Pacific. In route to a battle the fleet was in radio silence when attack by enemy aircraft. My dad was blown off the ship into the water during the attack. He drifted in the water for some 12 hours until be rescued by a much smaller ship further down the convoy. Once radio silence was lifted the aircraft carrier wanted my pops back. Seeing that being an aircraft carrier they were the only ship with ice. The smaller ship held on to my dad until the aircraft carrier forked over a load of ice cream. He always said he was held hostage for ice cream.

[@sarameitner6770]

Not only is this one of your BEST videos, but reading the comments from viewers sharing their family stories of military ice cream is a feature in its own right. They would make a good book of short stories. Top score all around!

[@gispaAPRN]

I cannot agree with you more, Sara! ❤

[@adamsmith-er5fd]

12:39 you dont really hear about it often but the B17s weren't pressurized, which meant that it was an incredible -60 degrees at their normal operating altitude. They wore heated jackets and had oxygen masks. It's a miracle that they were able make icecream in them without also making man flavored popsicles.

[@MrBumblesayswhat]

No wonder Snowden was cold

[@elsiestormont1366]

Sixty below - That is amazing! I live in Fairbanks, Alaska and I have had personal experience with -50°F & -60°F days. Mechanical stuff doesn't run very well or even at all in those temps and as for ice cream, I used to store ice cream in a galvanized can on my porch. At that temp, it was so hard that you couldn't scoop it, much less eat it!

[@aromanticfranziskavonkarma]

@@elsiestormont1366 The farthest north I've ever been was Los Angeles, I can't even imagine! I start complaining when it gets to around 40 degrees, lol.

[@Blitzkrieg1976]

I was a transportation specialist in the Army for some years, and when the reefers showed up with milk and ice cream, you'd never seen a happier bunch. Creature comforts matter, whether deployed or state side..ice cream makes people happy! Definitely a boost for morale! Thanks Max!

[@pinkbunchan9258]

My favorite Naval ice cream anecdote is about USS Kidd. It was uniquely allowed to fly a Jolly Roger flag, and the crew leaned into the “pirate” behavior. As a destroyer, they would often rescue crew from aircraft that were shot down, so they would “ransom” the crewman back to their carrier in exchange for ice cream and other goods.

[@lesliecooper3841]

Thank you Max. My dad was a cook and baker’s mate on a supply ship in the South Pacific during WWII, and told my brother and I stories about making ice cream for the ship. I remember seeing his cookbook, and asking him why he didn’t cook anymore. He told us that the recipes were for ‘too many people’, which while true, well, let’s just say was not ‘bought’ by his kids. We did have a lot of home made ice cream, made from our own milk. Dad came home from the war to take over the family dairy. Such good memories of summer family celebrations, churning the ice cream (and pulling the plug on the motor before the paddle froze up and burned out the motor) 😊😀. Thank you for the history, helps me understand why Dad told ice cream stories, not bread baking stories😀

[@TastingHistory]

What a wonderful story. But your dad was right on 'too many people' haha

[@dianeovercash6739]

I am 73 and homemade ice cream was a staple with our family growing up. The freezer we had was a hand crank and the men turned it until it couldn't be turned anymore. The kids sat on it in the last stages of freezing so the freezer wouldn't scoot around.

[@Facetiously.Esoteric]

Cooking is very odor oriented, I'm sure the odors of cooking would trigger memories probably best left in the past. I've been an executive chef for 30 years and can tell you odors bring back vivid memories of specific times. I'm lucky most of mine have been good. His maybe not so much.

[@tomlidot4871]

OMG my dad was also a cook USN for 20 years and during WWII. He never made homemade ice cream but always bought some yellow butterscotch flavor none of the kids liked that looked just like the one made here. He bought neapolitan for everyone else. And yes, we never ran out of ice cream in the house. EVER!

[@persnikitty3570]

@@tomlidot4871 Same here, though Dad was Korea and Vietnam (USAF from 51-72 as aviation engine mechanic). We always had ice-cream, some self-made from a churner and lots of rock salt. We were in coastal Texas, so rock salt was not used for anything else except ice-cream churners.

[@Idahoguy10157]

My father was a WW2 navy sailor. He loved his daily ice cream! When I served in the US Navy I can confirm ice cream was quite important. When the soft serve ice cream machine was broken repairing it ASAP was a priority

[@va1445]

"I still use it to get me through Little Depression." 🤣🤣😂 I laughed through the familiar pain on that one. Love this episode! My dad was on the Navy ships during Vietnam and ice cream was always in our house. I recall driving 20 mins to the store at 10pm on a "gedunk run" to get ice cream for Dad. He took it seriously. LOL

[@DoctorRobertNeville]

This made a lot of sense to me as my Grandfather, and my Father both served in the Navy. One during WWII, and the one in Vietnam. They both would make sure there was plenty of Ice Cream in our homes. I still have both my Grandfathers, and my Fathers Ice Cream makers, and use them heavily during the summer. I even took an old school hand crank Ice Cream machine when we went camping, and made some Vanilla Ice Cream which was a big hit to my friends, and family. I saw one older guy with a U.S. Navy cover on walk by, and I yelled "Ensign front and center for your Ice Cream ration!". You bet he came running up for some.

[@churlish_hoecake]

My father is a retired, disabled Navy veteran as well. Growing up we ALWAYS had a big ass "government-issued" (from the commissary) bucket of butter pecan ice cream in the fridge. And he calls all junk food "gedunk". 😊

[@Starbean89]

Your story about your family and your camping trip made me smile

[@Anamnesis]

I love that Max switches to a subtle "Transatlantic accent" when he reads the news dispatches like a classic radio announcer. 😄

[@NancyJMajor]

My dad was an army air corps pilot in the South Pacific during WW2. His claim to fame among the men was that he and his crew flew to Australia to bring them all some ice cream. He was one of those guys who then flew under the Sydney bridge on the way home. After a bit, the ice cream was beginning to melt, so he flew at a high altitude to try to keep it cold. He said it was pretty soft, but ice cream is ice cream nonetheless. Thank you for the great episode.

[@florencepierce1864]

Oh, Wow! As someone who emigrated to Oz from the US, this story just tickles me! The idea of someone flying UNDER the Sydney Harbour Bridge is just - Wow! That is some dedication to Ice Cream & his men! You must be that proud! 🍨🍦😋

[@Carbidestruck]

Functioning logistics is a hell of a thing.

[@CptVargas70]

"Armies march on their stomachs"

[@new.asteroid.tracker]

Program Idea for Morial Day: How about a recipe (recipes) from any of the military cookbooks printed or revised prior to any of the wars the United States of America was involved in. It would be a unique way of honoring our service men and women who served our country.

[@fillhixx]

@@Matt-xc6sp You will find that wars are not so much fun when you come in at the beginning rather than start playing at the end of the game. Wait! You HAVE; in Vietnam, Korea, & Afghanistan….. (worse, I’m thinking, when your country is Role Playing as Germany)

[@RandomiusBronius]

@@Matt-xc6sp You do realize that if WWIII happens, we're all going to be playing Fallout irl, right?

[@WillieBrownsWeiner]

​@fillhixx the US wasn't obligated to get involved in Europe either time. Just like we aren't this time. The biggest benefit of NATO has been keeping a US boot on the collective necks of you eurotrash so that you don't go dragging everyone into a 3rd world war. Like you're trying to do right now.

[@PhilMasters]

If I remember the story correctly, one of the more realistic Japanese naval officers said that he realised they were going to lose when he discovered that the US Navy had two whole ships dedicated entirely to ice cream production. The difference in sheer weight of resources was just too much.

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

It's _quite_ the logistical flex when you can invest resources and then field such ships. There was quite a lot more glaringly wrong stuff going on for Imperial Japan, however, as leadership overall was bizarrely dysfunctional. The Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy having such a fierce interservice rivalry that it was elevated to a performance art. The army had to be strongarmed by their government to stop trying to build naval vessels, and to cooperate with the navy, and it kind of didn't work anyway.

[@nancypine9952]

I've read stories about Japanese soldiers desperate to just have rice available. For someone struggling to get basic supplies, the thought of Americans being able and willing to devote resources to a sweet must have been stunning.

[@KaoretheHalfDemon]

Not to mention the logistical flex when american serviceman could get fresh ice cream while thousands of miles away from home while the japanese could barely get rice from tens of miles away from home.

[@hedgehog3180]

Tbf the IJN was also pretty well fed (at least when supply lines hadn't broken down), they had their own refigerated ships that delivered fruits, rice and meat and Japanese battleships had enormous freezers. The IJA was the worse off branch as supply routes in China were extremely unreliable due to both terrain and guerilla fighters and then later the blockade of Japan.

[@BDFTP69420]

I remember hearing something similar about a German general upon realizing that American rations all included chocolate and cigarettes. In the Wehrmacht, these were luxury items meant for officers.

[@annerogers6895]

That really explains why I seen so many hot dog/hamburgers and ice cream shops(mostly ice cream) started from WWII veterans allover growing up. My grandpa was one of them, he just loved ice cream! He joined the air force really late in the war that he never saw combat but he still served in it. He was a farmer his whole. He own a small store where he sold seeds other farming goods in the back portion of the store. And the front half of the store he turned it into an ice cream shop called The Big Dipper. The shop really helped put the small farmer town in IN on the map. He served the most buttery soft serve ice cream and other treats. He had the business I wanna say 25, close to 30 some years before he sold the business but eventually was closed for good in the late 90s. I miss my grandpa but ice cream always reminds me of him. 😊

[@berelinde]

Pop served in the Pacific during WWII and Korea. He didn't talk about the wars, but he did talk about his peacetime experiences as an MP chasing speeders in his Jeep with an ice cream in one hand, a hot dog in the other, and steering with his knees.

[@3364dean]

as a retired sailor from a more modern era, i can validate these words about ice cream. i spent 2 cruises in the Persian Gulf bot during Desert storm and Afterwards. in an area were the temps outside would be 95 degrees at Midnight some nights, Ice cream was both a moral booster and a life saver on an aircraft carrier. and during those times, we didnt get a beer day unless we spent 90 days consecutive in a row at sea without going into port. so Ice cream as literally both a god send and a blessing for our state of minds.

[@kimmer6]

Back in 1979 I was assigned to jobs at the Bapco Refinery in Bahrain repairing gas turbine driven equipment. One long day I missed the last bus to Awali, the town where the expats lived. I slept in a wire mesh rag bin in the 95 degree heat and covered myself with rags to keep the flies off. The next night I treated myself to dinner at the British Club in Awali where they required a neck tie to enter and dine. I made my tie from a rag, cardboard and duct tape, a clip on model that passed inspection each time. I treated myself to 2 helpings of vanilla ice cream with a shot of Creme De Menth poured on it. That helped a lot. The waiters were skinny Indians in suits and they had such thick accents that other contractors could not understand them. But the one waiter always asked me if I wanted ''Gring Gring'' for dessert. Vanilla ice cream with Creme De Menthe. ''Veddy goot, Sir!'' I hadn't realized how much that ice cream made my life better. Thanks for your service. I will bet you brought back good stories. That Persian Gulf water was so clear and blue.

[@joanbonnet8229]

Thank you for sharing this. My husband was a fire controller aboard the USS Essex (CV9) from 1943-45. His chief told me when my husband was missing, he could always be found in line for the “cow” or ice cream machine.

[@gyrogeargoose]

That's great! My Dad served aboard the USS Essex those same years as an electrician's mate. He told me about seeing the ice cream barges at the island of Ulithi where they went for replenishment and repairs.

[@PoppycockPrincess100]

Ha, I just love the story of the sailors saving the ice cream on the sinking ship! They certainly had their priorities straight!

[@timmccarthy9917]

Well there were no women and children to go first, so, save the ice cream.

[@silverjohn6037]

May sound silly but the warrant officer knew the guys might be floating for days before they got picked up. Having a full belly would go a long way to help them through that.

[@ragnkja]

It’s water and energy, and really tasty.

[@craggleshenanigans]

I had this mental image of the officers furiously hacking at the lock, quickly filling cups and handing them out in a hurry, while the ship starts to have a noticable 40 degrees list

[@auscaliber1]

@@silverjohn6037 exactly, I have no idea if it was actually the plan, but its the exact thing you need in that situation. you don't need broccoli, you need the most calorically dense thing you can get your hands on to survive short term as long as possible. my guess would be that being the right move is a happy accident though

[@OlEgSaS32]

Never in a million years would i imagine ice cream being so insanely vital to the war effort back then..than you for educating me, Max

[@mwater_moon2865]

And now. I'm a Girl Scout leader and most councils around the country send cookies to troops these days including ours. It's a great option for folks who want to support the girls but can't or don't want to eat the cookies themselves. Every year I hear about how the food from home is what makes their day, be that ship or base, but just this Feb one veteran was telling me about how he ran supply line during the Iraq war to lots of little outposts and how as soon as the guys knew they were coming, the commanders would call everybody not on active watch in and wake up the guys who were sleeping because Ice cream won't last long in desert heat so they'd all come and get their treat right then.

[@spacecat85]

I knew it was important, but not to what extent they went to to get ice cream. pretty darn impressive, and makes perfect sense as a morale booster. very cool (pun fully intended).

[@preshisify]

agreed

[@randomanun4278]

we were using the same reports in afghanistan to ship goods to foreward operating bases in remote areas to boost morale... they also used it to justify large shipments of energy drinks and various confectionary treats.

[@preshisify]

🥰

[@bknwuzheer1]

the sailors saving the ice cream on the lexington before abandoning ship is an amazing story

[@Vickiib]

My Uncles served in the Navy during WWII. One of the few stories my uncles shared was of the ice cream they had while in the Pacific. One uncle was a Japanese POW. One of the first things he was given when he was liberated from the camp he was suffering in was ice cream. Until the day he died, he had a scoop of ice cream every evening.

[@dreamcoyote]

My grandfather was drafted into WWI in 1918 (pulled his own number out actually ;) and as he was a history buff, he recorded various events at the time. You weren't supposed to write anything down but he knew it would have value. He wrote down impressions as they were deployed from Ohio by train without being told the destination. He surmised, correctly, that they were headed to New York to board ship and almost certainly on to France. I'd have to dig it up for an exact quote, but they had a couple days layover in New York and they had ice cream. Some of the men had never had before. They all loved it and it boosted morale. He didn't have a lot of details on the journey, but ice cream definitely made it in there :). Not to leave his tale hanging, they made it to the trenches and the first night he along with a cook were chosen to man a forward position with a box of grenades. They agreed the grenades were too dangerous and they would leave them for the Germans to kill themselves with but it ended up being a quiet night anyway. The next day he ran across an officer who knew him, knew he had been to university and could write, and he was pulled into a command bunker writing reports, letters, etc for the short bit left in the war.

[@BogeyTheBear]

The grenades were too dangerous because they were most likely fragmentation grenades (to be used to repel a German attack). The thing is, the lethal radius of a fragmentation grenade is farther than the distance you can throw one-- you're always going to be in range of the bomb you just used! You have to be sure you're behind cover when one gets thrown.

[@BogeyTheBear]

@@professionalschizo There is a difference between fragmentation grenades (used on the defensive) and non-fragmenting grenades (sometimes called concussion grenades) which are used on the offensive (to clear rooms or bunkers).

[@dreamcoyote]

@@BogeyTheBear My grandfather had a quirky sense of humor. He was describing how two green recruits looked at a box of grenades and figured it was too dangerous to muck with so they'd let the Germans make mistakes with them :)

[@knightshousegames]

I think the most fascinating thing about the whole US Military Industrial Complex for me has to be all of the different research that goes into food. The fact that they have whole laboratories dedicated to this stuff is so interesting, and the crazy stuff they come up with. It might be cool if you did a collab with the channel "World War 2" and did episodes about the rations of each major belligerent nation

[@robertgerrity878]

You'll find the name of Donald K. Tressler from the late 30s on in a lot of food research reports for the War Dept. When he had a publishing company (AVI) one of top best-selling books was ICE CREAM. I know because I shipped them out the door.

[@C0mpurgator]

Man, ice cream is STILL the morale booster for the Navy! We usually knew our deployment was getting extended if we saw ice cream or steak & lobster show up on the plan of the week 😂

[@funkybassman6012]

My grandpa was in the Navy during Vietnam and a running joke in our family is he suffers PTSD from when the ship mess's ice cream machine broke down. Great video as always Max!

[@kethrytamra3707]

My Grandfather was in the US Army during WW2 (Pacific). He was sent to Australia to recoop after getting shot, blown-up, then catching maleria. He worked in the Allies' lab there. They did a bunch of science-y stuff but mainly they tested foods brought in by the local farmers to make sure it was safe to send to the boys at the front. They used to get these large containers of milk from the local dairymen and they would take a tiny sample from one to test the whole batch but then the rest of that container would have to be thrown away because of safety regulations. My Grandpa grew up on a farm during the depression so wasting that much milk almost physiscally hurt him. Instead he would take the container away and he would make cottage cheese and ice cream with it. Then he would pass it out to his Australian neighbors and their friends. He said when he was there that dairy products were so tightly rationed that his gifts were pretty much the only dairy they ever got. It made him feel so good to see how happy the kids would be to get some ice cream. It really helped him in his convalescence.

[@rowanl2115]

After reading other comments I felt the need to chime in: My grandfather's dad was in the army during WW2 and I never understood why he decided to open a soda parlor where the main attraction was his ice cream. My grandfather has so many stories about how people would drive just for the ice cream, because it was just THAT good. Great grandfather had a bit of a spell of bad luck after coming back, so the Idea of Ice cream being a form of war time morale-boosting that he wanted to continue after coming back makes a lot of sense. Real issue is Great grandfather had the recipe memorized so it was never written down (or if it was written, it was lost). I may try making this for my grandfather to see if it tastes similar.

[@Bastion83]

Let us know how it goes please.

[@florencepierce1864]

Wow. Hope you make it, it tastes great & puts a smile on your Grandfather's face!

[@jitteryhands16]

Did you do it? If yea, how did it go?

[@KaoretheHalfDemon]

Would love to know if your grandpa liked it.

[@cerealport2726]

I haven't been in the military, but I have spent a lot of time working in remote locations with anywhere between 15 and 150 people, and the surest way to kill morale is to serve poor quality, or unpopular food. In one instance, there was an ultimatum given, either the useless cook goes, or all the other workers go. The cook went...

[@snackums996]

`My dad was on a carrier, forget which one. Weevils had gotten into the flour (locker/hold?) and all the bread and anything that used flour had hundreds of weevils in it. Moral got so bad the Chaplin had to tell the commander of the ship to dock soon and clear out the flour before the poop hits the fan. They soon docked and cleared it out. The men were put to the task of bringing up the flour bags, but the weevils had torn them to shreds. So the guys at the bottom of the flour brigade were covered in flour and dead weevils.

[@Trekki200]

And that's why Mcmurdo station in Antarctica is famous for its pizza. Easy and fast to make, doesn't need a lot of resources, keeps relatively well and just about everyone loves it. (Something tells me ice cream may not be quite so popular in an area that sees subzero temperature most of the year)

[@housemana]

@@Trekki200 are you sure that its not just famous to you because someone did a trending video on it on YT? :")

[@k80_]

offshore oil?

[@Trekki200]

@@housemana maybe I've seen too many documentaries about the antarctic, but food and especially the pizza thing feature in a little more than just the one viral video😅

[@JackWebb-t2q]

I really enjoyed this episode my father was a Chief Petty Officer, Intelligence Specialist, stationed in Calcutta, India, from 1943 to 1945. My father used to say the only time that he carried a side arm (he had a pistol expert ribbon) was when an American war ship would arrive in port. It was his duty to take a motorcycle with a side car to the port, fill the side car with Naval Ice Cream, and drive as fast as he could dodging all sorts of street traffic (holy cows and British lorries) getting back to base before the ice cream melted in the Indian heat. He needed the pistol to prevent the ice cream being stolen out of the side car as he drove through traffic, and especially as he made his way through his own base.

[@Clovernoris]

My grandfather served as a medic in the Pacific front of WW2. He was the kindest and wisest man I ever knew and there isn't a day that passes that I don't miss him. Videos like these bring back warm memories of long lost summers spent on his front porch as he rattled off tales of his life. Thanks for the great content as always Max

[@mrmakhno3030]

Remember, he is kind and wise because of US Navy ice cream😂 anyway thanks your grandpa for his service against Axis Force.

[@Clovernoris]

@@mrmakhno3030 He was an OG antifascist. I'll send him your regards next time I visit his grave.

[@earthknight60]

As an aside, the banana ice cream of the time probably tasted different from what you made as back then the Gros Michel banana was still be standard banana. Due to fungal diseases that type of banana has not been commercially viable since 1965 (likely a little bit before) and we now use the Cavendish banana instead. This is part of why artificial banana flavor doesn't taste like the bananas we are used to, the artificial flavor s based off of what the Gros Michel banana tasted like.

[@SarafinaSummers]

And it's based on a chemical I'm allergic to. I wonder if I'd be allergic to the Grow Michell strain of banana, even though I can eat the Cavendish cultivar with no issue?

[@badweetabix]

That explains a lot. My 91 year old grandmother always told me that bananas and coca cola tasted better back in the "old days". I always thought she was just talking up the good old days. My bad.

[@hardgay7537]

​@@badweetabixThat and Coke is better with sugar instead of corn syrup. It's smoother and the flavor is more well-rounded. Try a Mexican coke if you can get your hands on one. It's worth it to try it at least once.

[@achevres]

Thanks for the info!

[@wandaarnt234]

Pennsylvania Grandma here. I’ve been saying they don’t taste as years ago I understand Thank You

[@marcoceccarelli6415]

My grandfather from Poland Was working in the coal mines in Scranton Pennsylvania America When Germany invaded poland and Russia. He tried to go back to poland to fight longside his brothers He could not make it back so he joined the American military. Served 6 years on the battleship North Carolina as a navy Corpsman He always talked about the ice cream on the ship. Rest in peace grandpa you'll always be my hero. Paul Peter Zaleski🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱

[@DavidMichael-fo5mt]

That's a great story, Marco --- and much respect to your grandfather too for jumping into the fight!

[@mmead7904]

Daughter of a retired submariner here. Ice cream still is a big moral booster to sailors. My dad has stories about whenever ice cream was on the menu when he was out to sea.

[@kirbyculp3449]

Any stories about cribbage?

[@mmead7904]

@@kirbyculp3449 my dad’s favorite tale is how he and my mom beat the base commander and his wife at cribbage because my mother is a cribbage nut and can out play anyone.

[@FIREBRAND38]

11:20 "Mr Softee jingle!" Brilliant! I'll probably buy your cookbook just for that line in the video!

[@username-ij4xi]

This really brought back some memories. Right before my first deployment in the Army we were in a pretty low point during a big field training exercise. We were all outside for days in the middle of a Texas summer and had no idea how much longer we would be out there. Another platoon leader and I secretly took a Humvee to the commissary and loaded it up with those big cheap tubs of ice cream for the rest of the battery. I did not expect how happy it would make everyone! I don’t know how many of us would have said ice cream was a favorite food, but it’s crazy how much better everyone felt for the rest of the day

[@TastingHistory]

Thank you for your service

[@username-ij4xi]

@@TastingHistory thank you for making these!!

[@silverchairsg]

Yes when I was in training in Thailand (not US army) it was hot AF, and random Thai folks would sneak into our training area and sell us ice cream and cold soft drinks from their vans and bicycles. Those were the bomb.

[@jamoecw]

the cheap ice cream uses more water, which is actually a plus in such heat. understanding your ice cream is important for morale boosting.

[@gibu002]

My dad served in the Pacific during WW2 on a seaplane tender. A couple of his ship stories revolved around ice-cream.

[@IMeMineWho]

The greatest generation imho.

[@blitzdough]

My grandfather was on LST 944 in the Pacific in WWII. He was 1st Pharmacist Mate so he was in charge of ship stores as well as medical. He told me that one time they pulled up to a destroyer to do some horse trading and got a couple tubs of chocolate ice cream in exchange for a crate of red apples. I always wondered how the destroyer would have had ice cream... thanks for the video Max!

[@finaldarkfire]

From what I've read, they may have gotten it rescuing/returning/ransoming downed fighter pilots to their carriers XD

[@chuckschillingvideos]

Horse trading rules the day wherever quartermasters mix

[@debeslinger4641]

As a daughter of a WWII GI it put a smile on my face to think of him fighting his way across Europe into Germany enjoying ice cream. Which he loved. All my Uncle's& father-in law were Navy sailors. The later being in the Solomon Islands as a reforestation specialist. Thank you for this delightful history lesson! I only wish they were still with us to tell us more. Ode to the greatest generation!!!. Keep up your valuable and enjoyable work.

[@debeslinger4641]

refrigeration specialist (in soon after those to hit the beach)

[@peabody1976]

Congrats on the cookbook finally coming out! Sounds like a perfect occasion for having a bowl of ice cream. :)

[@TastingHistory]

Thank you! Ice cream for all!

[@astahfirula]

​@@TastingHistory i'll have a scoop then. Thank you very much. 😊

[@SanguiphiliaTV]

My grandpa was in the Navy right at the end of WW2, stationed in the east Asian islands on an air craft carrier. Some of my fondest memories of him are us going to Dairy Queen and eating ice cream together. He always loved it just as much as we did. It makes me happy to think he maybe had an ice cream station on his ship while he was out at sea. :) Thank you for this video.

[@Staren01]

Since Max mentioned the steam jacketed kettles, it popped into my head how awesome a collaboration would be between Tasting History and the Battleship New Jersey museum team if they could make that happen. And that was before that was the ship mentioned. Ryan, the museum curator who hosts their videos has told that same story about the officers in line.

[@phtown]

I think Max and Ryan would get along like a house on fire. I'd love to see an episode of Tasting History from the New Jersey.

[@kirbyculp3449]

Not just yes but heck yes!

[@cburgess5294]

Yes, make this happen! 2 of my favorite youtube personalities making a video would be amazing.

[@Halinspark]

Lets try to crowbar Drachinifel in there, too.

[@ReggieArford]

Well, the steam kettles were almost certainly run off the ship's boilers, which also provided propulsion, electric power, etc. (Think warp drive plasma conduits - it's all naval architecture!) Does the USS NJ have working boilers? If not... that's a problem.

[@lhfirex]

I've been playing Company of Heroes 3, a WW2 real time strategy game, and one of the side objectives I was given in the campaign recently was to bring a navy ship to a port to give the troops some ice cream to raise morale! That campaign takes place in Italy, though, so that's the only part that seems different from today's video and recipe.

[@TastingHistory]

That’s amazing! Love when games have that kind of detail.

[@KickyFut]

Gelato?😕

[@BlindIo42]

Ice cream was still important in the European theater, and bringing in a ship to supply the landed troops with food, ammo, and ice cream was still really important.

[@meshuggahshirt]

​@@BlindIo42 it was also a consistent source of friction with the Royal Navy, who were very conscious about how much worse their food was

[@BlindIo42]

@@meshuggahshirt How does it go again, "The face of their women and the taste of their food made the British man the best sailor in the world"?

[@LaskyLabs]

My father served in the navy during the cold war, stationed on submarines. And while I never got the chance to ask him about something like this as he passed in 2019, I think this explains his sweet tooth... He understood ice cream to be a great moral booster too. I'll never forget all the times we went to Dairy Queen and all of the local ice cream shops together.

[@mikemcbride7376]

The story about the airplane ice cream maker was told to me by my father (Korea/WW2 Vet). Didn't really believe it until now. LOL Another great episode Max. Thanks!!

[@PokhrajRoy.]

The character arc from Beer Company to Ice-Cream Company. No screenwriter could make this up.

[@naturalist10000]

Could be a half-decent Rags to Riches story. I'd watch it

[@VividPetrichor]

Actually, a local brewery company - Narragansett Brewing Company, did something similar. They switched to making soda pop and ice and selling that during prohibition. Though, I'd be more interested in a brewing company's ice cream!

[@finnmacdiarmid3250]

Had the pleasure of meeting a 100 year old sailor who served on a tug boat in WW2. At his birthday party, we had ice cream as it was his favorite food. Not desert, food. It all makes sense now.

[@GEM850]

My maternal grandfather was a Seabee in the Navy during WWII. He LOVED ice cream. In fact during the summer, he made homemade ice cream at least twice a month. Best dang ice cream I ever had.

[@rring44]

I got out of the navy 5 years ago. On the sub, we had a little ice cream machine that made soft serve. We used powered ice cream mix and looking at the ingredients, it was pretty much the same as your recipe. When I was cranking, I started adding various flavors to the vanilla mixes. The best imo was using the juice from canned pineapple.

[@GiselleMF]

Sounds like a Dole whip!

[@laureldevine]

YUM!

[@HarryHamilton-r9u]

I was a cook in the Navy and I can honestly say there is no more inventive cook than a military cook. We were responsible not just for keeping our crews well fed but also had to do what we could to keep moral up. If the crew is happy the cooks are happy.

[@eclipsehorse8693]

same here- our crew loved us for midrats, coffee, and ice cream...

[@kimmer6]

My dad's friend travelled fast across Germany with Patton. He was an Army cook. He said that supplies never showed up on time, too much of this, not enough of that, and they struggled every day with what they had on hand to make enough chow to keep the guys happy. They always had onions and he learned to take the bad ones out and put them in the fire. The onion smoke fooled the guys into thinking the chow was way better than what they cobbled up. The cooks had to be very creative. To this day, I use his recipe for BBQ beans. He ran a catering truck mobile BBQ in the late 1960's out of Anaheim, California and went by the name of ''Cactus Charlie''. He still burnt onions on his grill 30 minutes before serving the BBQ dinner. Everybody raved about his food. My dad was USN and served on a troop transport during the Alaskan Invasion. The 2 of them told war stories every night until 2AM.

[@justinmarsh5748]

One thing that may have altered the taste of that ice cream from what it would have been like during the war is that it looks like you are using a Cavendish banana and not a Gros Michel. The Cavendish which was not as popular in the 40's. The Gros Michel tastes more like the banana candy flavor as apposed to what you expect from a banana you get now. The reason for the change was when Panama disease pretty much wiped out the Gros Michel in the 50's

[@alacnaythegreat1054]

I was looking for someone to mention that!

[@charlescampbell8343]

Yep came here to point it out. Also consider that if they stocked up in the Pacific or LatAm they may have gotten local varieties. This all happened in the 1960s so only a few decades after WW2. Gros Michel is still available by boutique plantations if you wanted to do an update video :D

[@bargunner]

I came here for this comment, Thank you!

[@kevinbyrne4538]

Gros Michel bananas are still grown in a few isolated locations: southern Florida and the Congo. But they ain't cheap.

[@charlescampbell8343]

@@kevinbyrne4538 Yup that's why I suggested doing a taste comparison. AFAIK they taste like banana candy does today, since banana candy flavor was from before the switcheroo.

[@RedBaroness]

My maternal grandfather served in the Korean War and ended up getting himself into kitchen duty; there were a lot of things he'd cook after serving that we grandkids loved to eat. He ran a diner for a bit as well. I ended up inheriting all of the family recipes from that side, and still do Navy cooking to this day. :) This ice cream recipe brought back some memories.

[@calteran]

I just found your video/channel thanks to Tom Scott's newsletter. This video was an absolute delight; as a (2000's era) Navy Veteran, I've long been fascinated by WWII Navy history, but this story is one I haven't heard told before. In "Clear the Bridge," Adm Richard O'Kane's first-person memoir of the USS Tang, he tells how his crew purloined a Taylor Ice Cream Maker from a larger ship right before the submarine was launched and later mentions how his crew got rid of their deep fryer after an electrical fire but would not part with the ice cream maker. I did not realize when reading how much of a larger story that was a part of. Thank you for making this video!

[@TastingHistory]

He mentioned me in his newsletter?! I love his channel!

[@calteran]

@@TastingHistory I don't know if you're aware of it, but he releases a weekly newsletter over email every Monday. There's usually a section of 3-5 videos he (or his team) liked and that he recommends to his audience. Here's his blurb about you: "Max Miller from Tasting History continues his series of cooking interesting things from history, combining recipes with historical knowledge. This time, the US Navy's World War 2 ice cream, and why it was so important to morale."

[@TastingHistory]

@@calteran that is so cool. I just subscribed.

[@ArachCobra]

The image of hardened soldiers lining up for their daily scoop of ice cream is absolutely precious.

[@ericachacon8337]

This episode makes me so happy because it reminds me of my Grandpa, who I loved very much (he passed in Nov. 2009). He served in the Navy in the S. Pacific, during WW2. He was a generally innocent soul- one of my favorite stories of his is that when he & the other soldiers went to Port, everyone scattered. Most of the other fellas went to get tattoos, or to booze it up or chase women... but my grandfather said he always tried to find an ice cream parlor. ☺️. So thank you for some lovely childhood memories! 🥰

[@DavidMichael-fo5mt]

That's a beautiful story, Erica - thank you for sharing!

[@DirtyFrigginHarry]

I've never identified with someone in history more than the guys who upon their ship being hit and sinking, they broke into the ice cream locker and ate as much as they possibly could before they sank.

[@DavidMichael-fo5mt]

With ya, Dirty Effing Harry --- and loving that element of the story too!

[@acomingextinction]

"I still use ice cream when getting through little depressions." At the end of the day it's the relatability of this channel that keeps me coming back.

[@calebleland8390]

I'll have to ask my dad about ice cream. He was a corpsman in the Navy, and he used to tell me all sorts of great stories. When he'd be serving as a ship's medic, he was the only person allowed to keep alcohol onboard, for "medicinal purposes". He told me about an admiral who used to come down to sick bay just to drink with him and smoke his cigarettes since he'd be able to stock up on them really cheap. Awesome video, Max!

[@s3np411]

Once, I spent the day driving a WW2 vet around. He had served in the navy and spent the time telling me stories about the ice cream they would make. When they rescued POWs, the malnourishment meant they couldn't eat full meals so he would make and feed them honey ice cream.

[@jeffl8549]

The concept of this channel is so spot on. It definitely fills a need for us foodies who wonder what people ate in different eras, different regions of the world. That's a reason why he currently has over 1.7m subscribers! I love this. I would like to see Max re-create a typical Wild Wild West outpost dinner from a saloon in the late-1800s or whenever the era was at its prime!

[@trinitywright7122]

Oh I love this channel

[@ironmanfanman4001]

I love that you told the story of Lexington sailors saving the ice cream. I spent several years in the Navy and the story of John Paul Jones and the Lexington Ice Cream show more about the spirit of the US Navy than anything else.

[@jackiehoward7300]

Hello Max, thank you for this video. My dad Bill was a Navy veteran who served in the South Pacific. He has been gone for about 22 years. He really didn’t talk about his time in the service much but I was fascinated by him. Your video gave me a bit of insight into his story.

[@mikek7095]

Still is important to the Navy even today. I was a cook in the Navy and I just retired in 2020. Our Food Service Officer on the Carl Vinson made sure we served Hard Pack ice cream once a week on deployment. We had a freezer full of it. We also served soft serve as well which the Officer Mess called “dog”. Thank you for sharing this video!

[@elvis13577]

Thank YOU for your service!

[@mikek7095]

@@elvis13577 Thank you!

[@Dive-Bar-Casanova]

Best scratch-made lemon meringue pie in the world was on board ship.

[@eclipsehorse8693]

hey shipmate! former MS here (USS McKee AS-41) I can attest to the importance of ice cream in the sub fleet- we always had ice cream available on the mess deck, and soem nights when things were slow, I'd whip up parfaits and floats for my mess cranks- good times!! :)

[@MalReaver]

Mom never mentioned making ice cream, but then she was a Canadian Navy cook based in a training camp in Ontario and although butter was rationed Canada did not ration milk or eggs in WWII. So happy to see this video as it brings back so many memories of the stories my Mom told about her time in the Navy.

[@KairuHakubi]

canadian army had lady cooks in the 40s? i didn't know that.

[@MalReaver]

@@KairuHakubi not the army, the navy - my aunt was an army nurse, my Mom was a navy cook :)

[@KairuHakubi]

@@MalReaver could have sworn I said navy. well I didn't know that! thought it was all fellas back then. good to know!

[@grbenway]

During the "gulf war" I was in the navy on a small frigate, we had ice cream and when it is so hot every day it was the best thing ever. They still used a dried mix but it was good.! thanks for the memory

[@sjones5616]

My grandfather was a Navy Veteran. As am I. He talked about ice cream during the war in the South Pacific against Japan. Thank you sir for this. I wish he was still alive so I could show him this.

[@badarock177]

Thank you for your service 🙏 I also wish he could see ths

[@colbyinzer5240]

This video made some connections for a recipe my grandfather passed down for Banana Nut ice cream! He was a dairyman who served in WWII (deployed in Belgium, captured a German town while commanding an all-black unit and received a field promotion to Major). His recipe was very similar to this, except his used fresh eggs, half & half, NO food coloring or corn starch, and a little powdered milk to thicken as well as a handful of GrapeNuts cereal for a little more crunch. Due to dietary restrictions in my family, I use full fat coconut (or oat) milk, powdered coconut (or home freeze dried oat) milk in place of the dairy. With the proportions, and what Grandpa handed down, this recipe makes perfect sense and tastes great! One other note for those who do not have a double boiler is to bring the liquid mixture to 150-160* while stirring constantly. At about 155* remove immediately from the heat and let come to room temperature. This will keep the eggs and sugars from clumping up and keeps the ice cream silky smooth.

[@Moosemoose1]

They have Lactaid milk now which is regular milk which has had the lactose broken down for people with lactose intolerance, I'm sure it could work just as well

[@davesmith9451]

Hey Max, I just thought I'd send a note while I had my morning coffee. I just received a copy of your book and I had to say that it looks great! I will give it to my Mom for Mother's Day in May. She's in her 80s and just getting into KZbin. Your channel was the first I suggested to her and she's been loving it. We volunteer together at a rural library for a couple of hours on Saturday mornings (later this morning actually) and we don't get a lot of people coming through so we have started watching an episode or two of your fine content together. A great way to spend time together. I will encourage our full-time librarian to pick up a copy of your book for our non-fiction shelves. I think it will be popular. Thanks very much for all your great videos and I hope your book is a roaring success.

[@TheSPC54]

Since the Gros Michel banana was the most common variety of banana sold up until the modern Cavendish variety replaced it commercially in the 1960’s, I wonder how different this might have tasted today compared to the original recipe.

[@sarahrosen4985]

Great question!

[@Jeff121456]

the Gros Michel has a much, much stronger banana flavor.

[@ADruid25]

I was about to speculate about that. And there is a notable flavor difference between the modern Cavendish and the Gros Michel. I wonder if there is a way to test it now a days.

[@koganusan]

​@@ADruid25 you can still get gros michel shipped to you, only question is how much youre willing to pay

[@oldkingcrow777]

I thought the same immediately when I saw this. Since the whole "old bananas" (and eventually new bananas lol) thing has been burned into my memoru

[@deannaepler]

I'm super proud of your book. You're adorable when you're talking about it- your excitement is contagious ☺️

[@TastingHistory]

Thank you so much 😊

[@KyIeMcCIeIIan]

I worked at an ice cream factory. Ice cream made from dehydrated milk will always be a superior product because you can control how creamy it is.

[@jenniferstrover1276]

Military men on active service getting really excited about ice cream, is such an unexpectedly wholesome story. Thanks, Max!

[@xyanide1986]

I had no idea the US forces put that much emphasis on ice cream. For a second I thought the food coloring was something they really wouldn't use. It's extra weight and doesn't add to the flavor, but sure enough you showed the recipe book and it's there in all of them. They really wanted to bring a full experience of ice cream from back home on board, bright colors and all.

[@KainYusanagi]

While food coloring is extra, it's a miniscule weight, especially compared to how much of the stuff you actually have to use. It probably would only come out to an extra pound, maybe two, for a long trip's requirement.

[@whitelabrat]

This was one of my favorite episodes ever. The barge playing the Mr Softie song idea cracked me up.

[@MoonMystress]

My great grandfather was in the navy during ww2. He always had little single serving containers of vanilla ice cream after dinner up until the day he passed away. I didn't realize there was such a connection there until now. Thanks for the video, Max!

[@C4Yourself00]

There’s a story floating around that I was hoping you’d mention in the video of how a Japanese officer realized the war was well and truly lost when he discovered that the US had a fleet of ships dedicated entirely to ferrying ice cream to troops on the islands, while his own troops were scrounging for anything they could get their hands on. I’ve never been able to find a source for this story so I have no idea how true it is, but the idea that these ice cream barges were able to simultaneously lift US morale and crush Japanese morale is amusing to me.

[@Clementinewoofwoof]

My late great grandfather, he passed away a little bit ago at 95 years old, he was a first shipment on a cargo ship from 1941 to 1945. I have to honestly say this video warmed my heart and I just wanted to say thank you. If I remember correctly his vessel was USS Cimarron, AO-22

[@stevenrapp3217]

Good Stuff!!! Being a retired Marine that has done a couple Pacific crossings on Navy Ships, I can't begin to tell you how much the men enjoyed an occasional "Steel Beach" picnic, (Burgers, Dogs & Ice Cream!!) Yes indeed....it was a real moral booster everytime!! Ahhh....the good ol days!! Many Thanks!!

[@angelicamcd1165]

My grandfather served on the Lexington when she was sunk. When this episode started I was hoping you'd talk about that ice cream story. Thank you so much, Max. ♥

[@ladytalksalot4097]

11:51 props to the guy in charge. Thats some good determination to making sure his men get something good

[@pedenharley6266]

I knew a gentleman who had been a sailor (40mm gunner) on USS Montpelier - a cruiser that received 13 battle stars. As a child of the depression who grew up quite poor, one of the first things he would mention about his service was the quantity and quality of the food - especially the ice cream. He loved the ice cream, and still did when I knew him.

[@taitano12]

A couple of fun facts about the Halsey Ice Cream Story: Mom's dad told us the story about a dozen times, and he told it four different ways. One of us cousins called him on it and he said that, not only had he heard it five different ways from people who were there, but two of them were from Halsey himself. In one of Halsey's version he was at the back of the line, in the other, he was near the back. So, not a whole lot of difference in the stories of the incident. My other grandpa was a Supply Sergeant in the Pacific Theater and taught us the value of humility in leadership by telling us about a little known unwritten rule about Officer's Privilege(OP). Basically, at times like when Halsey was in the ice-cream line, Officers with OP usually took the last places in line because OP meant that they could order the stuff for their private stashes at almost any time. So, understanding the importance of things like ice-cream and beer to both the health and morale of their charges, since ancient times, it has been considered extremely bad manners for any non OP qualified officer to be anywhere near the front of the line. Unless you are on base and off duty, in which case it would be just considered a bit rude. It's something that has come and gone over the centuries, so I don't know what the status of it is now. But it has been the norm way more often than not The understanding is that, since you can normally order it at any time for yourself, be willing to let the crew be the ones use it up. If it runs out, just grab some for yourself at the next port. Even if an Admiral or General is a haughty jackass, if they have half a brain, they will know better than to screw around with morale. Even if mutiny and desertion aren't a risk, their effectiveness is.

[@Grimmwoldds]

The other thing is the USN really dislikes officers blatantly claiming privilege. They want to make sure the sailors think that the officers have more responsibility than privilege.

[@AmandaTikkanen]

My maternal grandfather was a cook on a battleship in the south Pacific during WWII. When we visited my grandparents our nightly treat was a bowl of ice cream before bed. So many great family memories are of eating ice cream at their house.

[@amandagibbs2429]

I LOVE this! One of the US Navy veterans I know from where I'm at mentioned this to us at Veterans Day ceremony that he was a cook and made ice cream.

[@jmboyd65]

I think this is my favorite episode of yours so far. I love this whole idea of ice cream boosting morale, and how important the higher-ups thought it was. I just lost my father in Feb, he was 98. He was a Merchant Marine during the war, bringing some of those tons of meat, veggies, and ice cream to soldiers in the South Pacific.

[@moonglow630]

So sorry for your loss.

[@jasonchappina8319]

May he rest in peace. He helped win the war,same as anyone serving on the front lines!

[@jsrustad]

There's a possibly apocryphal story about P-51 crew chiefs using drop tanks to make ice cream. They'd cut a hole in the drop tank, add the ingredients, and have a pilot take it up as high as possible while performing acrobatic maneuvers at altitude. After a while the pilot would quickly return to the air strip with the ice cream.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

8:52 Finishing Vanilla Ice-Cream as your ship sinks is truly iconic behaviour.

[@ragnkja]

If you know your ship is going down, but you’ve got just enough time to fill your belly with _something,_ wouldn’t you choose ice cream?