TOW #13 - Ice Cream's Identity Crisis

There’s not much better than sitting in front of the TV, spooning some ice cream into your mouth, and not having a care in the world.  But wait.  Is that really ice cream you’re eating?  In his article “Ice Cream’s Identity Crisis”, Dan Barry explores how Breyer’s, one of the most trusted ice cream brands for years, has started turning “ice cream” into “frozen dairy dessert.”  Barry utilizes the rhetorical devices of humor and expert authority in order to show the audience what has changed in food production in America.

            In this unconcerned piece, Barry makes jokes and uses a sarcastic tone throughout his essay to maintain the lightheartedness of the article.  This is about a trivial subject and there is no greater deeper meaning to this piece.  Barry simply wants to give his readers a laugh and maybe make them think twice about what they consume every day.  Barry, in a somewhat exaggerated sense of outrage, writes, “Remember the old schoolyard song?

I scream,

You scream,

We all scream for frozen dairy dessert ...” (Barry 2).

Inserting this clever little joke makes the reader chuckle to themselves, then presents a more serious (although still by no means grave) concern: the changes made to the food industry simply for profit.  Is Barry arguing that Breyer’s needs to change their policies?  That the FDA must enforce stricter regulations?  That we should stop eating frozen dairy product all together?  No, of course not.  He is simply making an observation that the reader can take with a grain of salt; Barry won’t be upset or disrespected if the readers continue to indulge in this fake ice cream product.

            Barry also employs an expert authority to give his argument some credibility.  He says himself he is no food expert, so he enlists the help of one in order to prove that he has a valid point.  Barry quotes a spokeswoman from the FDA to demonstrate that there are small, yet substantial, differences between “ice cream” and “frozen dairy dessert.”  But, as I have described earlier, Barry isn’t making a super passionate plea or argument; he is simply writing a fun article.  With that said, any argument, even one made in jest, requires evidence to be read as intellectual literature, and Barry provides that here with expert authority.

*This is the thrid installment of my project of exploring Dan Barry’s writing.  Barry is, of course, a reliable source.  He is columnist for the New York Times and he writes about sports (among other things) and how they affect our lives.