Ice Cream for a Cause from an Ice Cream Doctor
I think I found my dream job, I want to be an Ice Cream Doctor when I grow up! Dr. Maya Warren, known as “The Ice Cream Doctor,” and Mona Lipson have teamed up, using ice cream to make a difference in the world! Also, check out how the heck you can become an ice cream scientist as well as myths about ice cream and healthy eating. An ice cream diet is life!
Ice Cream for Change
Ice Cream for Change
Ice Cream for Change is a platform created by Dr. Maya Warren, also known as “The Ice Cream Doctor” and the face of ice cream, as well as Mona B. Lipson, AKA Miss Mona Makes Ice Cream, to bring together ice cream lovers and makers advocating for social change and civic action. From dismantling racial injustice to fighting climate change, their goal is to use the power of ice cream (it really does have a special way of bringing people together) as a force for good by helping to raise money and awareness for organizations that are driving solutions and making a real-world impact across the globe.
Learn more by visiting www.icecreamforchange.org
Dr. Maya Warren on HOW does someone become an ice cream scientist?
Anyone can become an ice cream scientist through passion and being determined enough to do it. You can go to college for the pedigree of knowledge in food science or chemistry.
You don’t need to get a PhD. You can get a master’s and have the same distinction, but if you “want to make a solid connection with ice cream to be an ice cream scientist” getting the PhD is one way to go. You’ll never forget all the little details and the impact every single ingredient has on a product in ice cream.
A lot of becoming an ice cream scientist is following your passion to become an ice cream scientist. Work hard.
Work smarter, not harder, and do what you need to do to get to the next level.
Know what you want to do with your degree. If you want to be an expert and consult people, so they call on you to fill certain issues, the PhD helps elevate you.
The road to get a PhD is very different for different people. I would highly recommend people follow what their passion is and figure out what they want to do with your degree.
Know what the PhD behind your name means. When I go to countries and speak, that degree comes with more respect. Getting this degree is just something I did. I never wanted to go back to school, and now I don’t need to!
Dr. Maya Warren on the biggest myths about Ice Cream and healthy eating?
(proof that ice cream is good for you! 😉 Huzzah!)
Not everything on the shelf is ice cream - in the US, Ice cream has to be 10% or more milk fat. So we have all these non-dairy products, which in the science world, we call frozen errated desserts. The word ice cream isn’t on these containers when you look closely at them
Frozen errated desserts - you can make these desserts with any kind of milk. If you don’t want to use cow's milk, you don’t have to, but the fats that are in other dairy products are different from cow fat, so the texture will be different. Depending on what the animals eat, this will change the taste of the milk, making the ice cream taste different too.
Dairy replacers - coconut fat is better than others because it behaves similarly to milk fat. It gives a good texture.
All ice cream at room temperature melts - that has to do with the microstructure of the product. Even if it doesn’t look like it it’s melting, it is. Just at a slower rate because of the ingredients inside of it
Sugar substitutes - Not all ice creams are made the same. They don’t all have the same amount of sugar. If you’re diabetic, going with something with a sugar substitute may be better, but it can mess with your digestive system.
The big word ingredients aren’t always bad - These ingredients help for many different reasons. One being so it doesn’t melt right away. Other ingredients explain why freezer burn happens in some ice cream, but not all.
You don’t have to have a machine to make ice cream! You can control what you put in homemade ice cream. If you want to use alternative sweeteners, you can! You can put real fruit in with some agave or honey, maybe even water. The fruit might be sweet enough to put inside without a lot of sugar! In order to freeze your ice cream though, you do need some sort of sweetener. Otherwise, you’ll end up with something that’s too solid. One way I like to think about it is this: If you live in a cold state, they use salt to melt the snow. For ice cream, you use sugar so it can melt.
National Ice Cream Day 2020
This year, Ice Cream for Change brought the ice cream community together including scoop shops, ice cream companies, and home ice cream makers to help raise funds for organizations leading the fight to help dismantle structural and systemic racism. I saw so many scoop shops including some of my favorites such as MILK, Smitten Ice Cream, Coolhaus, all offering to donate to organizations such NAACP, Center for Healing Racism, Showing Up For Racial Justice, and others advocating for social change & civic action.
What’s next?!
Follow Dr. Maya Warren on Instagram and join her on Ice Cream Sundays for some ice cream fun and great recipes to enjoy with the family! Stayed tuned for more from her!