A LITTLE HISTORY from wikipedia.com In 1977, lifelong ex-hippie friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield completed a correspondence course on ice cream making from the Pennsylvania State University. In 1978, with a $12,000 investment the pair opened an ice cream parlor in a renovated gas station in downtown Burlington, Vermont on May 5th. The parlor quickly became popular in the local community because of their innovative flavors, made from fresh Vermont milk and cream and "large portions of whatever ingredients they felt tasted good on the day of making!". In 1979 they marked their one year anniversary by holding the first-ever free cone day. Now a nationwide annual celebration. They combined ice cream making with social activism. In 1980 Ben and Jerry rented space in an old spool and bobbin mill on South Champlain Street in Burlington and began packing their ice cream in pints. In 1981 the first Ben & Jerry’s franchise opened on Route 7 in Shelburne, Vermont. In 1983 Ben & Jerry’s ice cream was used to build “the world’s largest ice cream sundae” in St. Albans, Vermont; the sundae weighed 27,102 pounds. In 1984 Haagen-Dazs tried to limit distribution of Ben & Jerry’s in Boston, prompting Ben & Jerry’s to file suit against the parent company, Pillsbury, in its now famous “What’s the Doughboy Afraid Of?” campaign. In 1987 Haagen-Dazs again tried to enforce exclusive distribution, and Ben & Jerry’s filed its second lawsuit against the Pillsbury Company. In 1985 the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation was established at the end of the year with a gift from Ben and Jerry to fund community-oriented projects; it was then provided with 7.5% of the company’s annual pre-tax profits. In 1986 Ben & Jerry’s launched its “Cowmobile,” a modified mobile home used to distribute free scoops of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in a unique, cross-country “marketing drive” -- driven and served by Ben and Jerry themselves. The “Cowmobile” burned to the ground outside of Cleveland four months later, but there were no injuries. Ben said it looked like “the world’s largest baked Alaska.” In 1992 Ben & Jerry’s joined in a cooperative campaign with the national non-profit Children’s Defense Fund; the campaign goal was to bring children’s basic needs to the top of the national agenda. Over 70,000 postcards were sent to Congress concerning kids and other national issues. In April 2000, Ben & Jerry's announced its acquisition by multinational food giant Unilever.[2] Unilever said it hopes to carry on the tradition of engaging "in these critical, global economic and social missions." In 1988, the pair won the title of "U.S Small Business Persons Of The Year," awarded to them by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. In 2001 Ben & Jerry’s completed transition to Eco-Pint packaging for 2001. All pint flavors are now packaged in unbleached paperboard Eco-Pint containers; using brown-kraft unbleached paperboard is a critical first step toward a totally biodegradable pint made without added chlorine. Although the founders are still engaged with the company, they do not hold any board or management position and are not involved in day-to-day management of the company.

Halo-Halo is a Filipino dessert that literally means "mix-mix," in reference to that number and variety of ingredients that go into making it. It's basically ice shavings with condensed milk and topped with sweets than usually include flan, purple yam, beans, colourful gelatin cubes, jackfruit and ice cream. The appropriateness of Halo-Halo as a dessert is never questioned by Filipinos, even when it's already snowing outside. This photo was taken in the middle of a biting Canadian winter at the then-newly opened Toronto/Vaughan branch of Max's Restaurant which has been a successful food franchise within the Philippines since the end of the Second World War. Photo by Jay