Munchable Ice Sells Like Hot Cakes
When Kyle Burkhalter gets up in the morning, he goes into the kitchen and fixes himself a nice cup of ice.
The 24-year-old director of research for a Web site chews the ice in the car on his way to work in Atlanta. He downs two or three more cups before lunch. He orders ice from drive-thru windows and dips into the office ice machine. Sometimes, his tongue gets so numb he can barely talk to clients.
Still, he munches on. “It’s something that you want to do and you think about doing on a constant basis,” he says.
Ice isn’t just for chilling drinks anymore, or for packing fish and treating sprains. It’s a hot snack. Some Sonic Drive-In franchises sell it in cups and in bags to go. Ice-machine makers are competing to make the best chewable ice, with names like Chewblet, Nugget Ice and Pearl Ice. One manufacturer calls the ice-loving South the “Chew Belt.”
Ice chewers swap tips on Icechewing.com. A recipe for preparing the perfect cup of ice: Use a glass, not a plastic cup. Let crushed ice fuse in water. Drink the water. Shake the cup to loosen the ice. Dig in.
Read more.
Photo by Ilan Brat.
toksee on February 6th, 2008 12:43 pm
Wow! I thought I had heard of everything. So, I guess the question is – can they sell it to Eskimos?
Coryan on February 6th, 2008 3:06 pm
OMG…I can’t wait to tell my wife that there is a website for people like me!
ChowMunga! on February 6th, 2008 3:27 pm
Mmm…this article gives me the munchies. I guess being addicted to ice is better than some of the alternatives!
Christy on February 7th, 2008 5:39 am
Are you flipping kidding me? A site about chewing ice. The picture of ice on this blog doesn’t even look like real ice.
Bah. Bah I say!
jane on February 7th, 2008 11:11 pm
I hear that people who chew on ice have a high libido.
Dane on February 8th, 2008 5:06 am
I thought that ice chewing was related to iron deficiency…
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