Remember all the times your parents told you that you couldn’t eat ice cream for breakfast? Your parents played you for a sucker.
Because you’re an adult. You make the rules. Occasionally, you also get to make up the holidays. And sometimes, those holidays mean eating ice cream before noon.
Visitors to Ice Cream Renaissance got a taste of the sweet life on Saturday, as the Uptown Village parlor celebrated National Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. No, it’s not a holiday on any calendar you’re looking at, but that didn’t stop dozens of people from chowing down on waffle sundaes, French toast topped with ice cream, and occasionally, just a simple bowl packed full of the creamy confection.
“People are in good moods, and they’re excited to have ice cream and breakfast together,” said Brandon Angelo, co-owner of Ice Cream Renaissance. “It’s kind of rebelling against the status quo.”
According to a 2004 Washington Post story, the holiday was born out of boredom. On a snowy day at their New York home in the 1960s, Florence Rappaport had a stroke of inspiration to entertain her two youngest children.
“It was cold and snowy and the kids were complaining that it was too cold to do anything,” Rappaport told the Post. “So I just said, ‘Let’s have ice cream for breakfast.’ ”
The family tradition spread, eventually growing into a recognized celebration at ice cream parlors across the country. The Vancouver store celebrated by introducing three breakfast flavors: blueberry pancake, Fruit Loops and maple bacon bourbon.
“We just think it’s a super fun thing,” said Julianne Bucklin, co-owner of the shop. “We’re daring to live outside the boundaries of when people think ice cream is acceptable.”
For Courtney Boardman from Astoria, dessert for breakfast was the cherry on top for her visit to Vancouver to see her boyfriend, Chad Gemma, and her sister, Gilly Hutchison.
Boardman recalled her and Hutchison’s parents telling her “all the time” as a child that she couldn’t eat ice cream for breakfast.
“Why haven’t I been doing this all along?” Hutchinson said. “I’m a grown-up.”
“We can do this now!” Boardman quipped back.
When asked if his mom ever told Gemma he couldn’t eat ice cream for breakfast, the Portland resident showed his colors as a longtime rebel.
“My mom did it once,” he said. “Once. She learned.”
But the day, nevertheless, offered some parents the chance to indulge their children. Chris Jamison and John Yajko brought their 13-year-old daughter, Allison Yajko, for a waffle topped with strawberries and cream ice cream.
Jamison said she heard about the event through a co-worker and told Allison as soon as she got home from work.
“She really likes ice cream, and breakfast,” Jamison said. “I went home, told her and she said ‘Can we go?’ ”
Yajko skipped the ice cream but nonetheless said he liked seeing so many kids happy to visit the cozy ice cream shop.
“All the kids were really excited to be here,” Yajko said.
Megan Guevara and her son William, 8, started a day of chores with waffles covered in sweet Fruit Loops-flavored ice cream for him, and smoky maple bacon bourbon ice cream for her.
Guevara hasn’t had to tell her son he can’t eat ice cream for breakfast, she said.
“It’s never been an option before,” she said.
But “what a great way to start out the day, doing something a little different,” Guevara said.
Correction: Chris Jamison found out about Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day through a co-worker. A previous version of this story indicated otherwise.
