Ben & Jerry's Edits Questionably Racist "Linsanity" Flavor
It makes sense that purveyors of topical ice cream Ben & Jerry's would want to cash in on the nation's love for New York Knicks standout Jeremy Lin. But their hastily made "Taste the Lin-Sanity" flavor may have been created in bad taste. (Figuratively speaking. Racist or not, it sounds delicious.)
The flavor, which is only available in Harvard Square, is vanilla frozen yogurt, a lychee swirl, and a waffle cookie for dipping on the side. But that wasn't the original recipe.
The fresh waffle cookie ingredient replaces initial batches of the flavor that included "fortune cookie pieces" mixed in with the frozen yogurt, Ryan Midden, Ben & Jerry's general manager for Boston and Cambridge said by phone today.
According to Midden, the fortune cookie pieces were removed because they got soggy in the yogurt, and not at all because reducing Jeremy Lin's cultural heritage to lychee and fortune cookies is maybe a little bit racist. BuzzFeed readers continue to debate the moral quandary — can something so tasty be offensive?
Like Jeremy Lin, fortune cookies are American, although both are of Chinese descent. While the cookies' inclusion in Lin-themed ice cream remains questionable, Midden brushes off "initial backlash." Of course, Ben & Jerry's has yet to explain what the flavor has to do with Harvard, basketball, or Jeremy Lin — unlike Lin, lychee is native to China.
