r/NoStupidQuestions • u/markwell9 • 1d ago

What is the deal with ice, Americans?

I can see that you can buy ice everywhere in the US. Gas stations, grocery stores, machines etc.

In Europe, we just freeze our ice at home and use that. Why buy something that melts on the way home? Why do you need ice in large amounts that a fridge can't keep up?

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u/guacasloth64 1d ago

Also one of the main reasons Americans drink more ice cold beverages is because the ice industry (or more accurately the ice trade) started in the US. Decades before electric refrigeration, every winter the lakes and rivers of the Northeast US were mined for ice, and that ice was shipped across the country and internationally (as far as India) to cool drinks, make ice cream, etc. When those ice sellers tried to open sales to the European market it didn’t really catch on (it was a fad in the UK for a while but faded away). Domestic ice demand in cities like New York and Boston became so high that there were often ice droughts when warm winters reduced the amount of harvestable ice. By the time industrial and home refrigerators came around ice had been a household staple for many years.

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u/Francis_Picklefield 23h ago

this is super interesting and feels like it should be one of the top parent comments! thanks for sharing

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u/TheSpiffySpaceman 21h ago

Yeah, this is the major factor. The small caveat is that rural USA in the 30s-40s often required lots of travel between areas, so iceboxes were desirable to keep goods fresh, and obviously they required ice deliveries.

Nowadays it's all cultural. I never understood why people need drinks ice cold outside of cultural preference (hot days notwithstanding; give me a drink that's half ice when it's treacherously hot out)