Neapolitan ice cream
Why did Mom buy Neapolitan ice cream? She liked it better than her children did, I guess. Whenever she bought it, we called it “Napoleon” ice cream, because we were too lazy to learn “Neapolitan” (or, maybe just too lazy to say it). Sometimes, my brothers and I would sneak into the freezer and modestly nibble the chocolate section until, finally, we had eaten it out in a mischievous (but creative) bit of vandalism - like we were sculpting it, or something.
Neapolitan ice cream is known for its side-by-side layers of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream. But what does a tri-flavored ice cream have to do with Naples? Its origins date back to the late 1800s, when Neapolitan immigrants arrived in America with a vast knowledge of desserts. One of the sweets they introduced to America was spumoni, an Italian ice cream that was typically molded and contained three flavors of ice cream, such as chocolate and pistachio, each with a layer of fruit and nuts in between them. This “Neapolitan-style ice cream” caught on in the United States, taking on the most popular flavors in America - vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry - a legacy that’s still popular today.
I read on the Internet that Neapolitan ice cream is also called “Harlequin” ice cream. I never heard that before.