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LET THE OLYMPIC GAMES BEGIN

8/26/2024

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​THE OLYMPIC GAMES
Most of us have a vague idea about the ancient Greek Olympic games that were held every four years at the sacred site of Olympia, Greece, beside the city-state of Elis in northwestern Peloponnese from 776 BCE to about 393 CE. (Wow! A forty-word sentence. Shame on me.)

The games were part of a religious festival that honored Zeus, and the name of the competition was derived from Mount Olympus, home of the Greek gods. The Olympics was not the only one of these sporting matches held in Greece, but it was the most important. It is said that the Greeks even scheduled some of their wars so they would not interfere with the timing of the event between August 6 and September 19.  

https://www.britannica.com/sports/ancient-Olympic-Games

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The first Olympic champion listed in the records was Coroebus of Elis, a cook, who won the sprint race in 776 BCE. ​


Site of the original Olympics in Olympia, Greece
Image Source: https://www.ontheluce.com/ancient-olympia-let-the-games-begin/

FAST FORWARD TO 1896
After a few centuries to think about it, important men decided it was time to revive the Olympics. The first Modern Olympic Games took place in Athens, Greece, 1896. Members of the Greek royal family played an important role in the organization and management of the Games.

Under the leadership of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the recently created International Olympic Committee billed the Modern Olympic Games being for the first time held since 393 CE. The Opening Ceremony was held on Greece's Independence Day (April 6) to an enthusiastic crowd filling the refurbished Panathenaic stadium and spilling into the streets and hillside beyond.
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​​The second modern Olympic competition was like a sideshow of the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. The French government took over the control of the Games from the recently formed ICO responsible for organizing and administering the new event. The results were, at best, chaotic.
​                                                                                                     Image Source:  https://bvmsports.com/2020/07/23/paris-hosts-1900-olympics-

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The Committee still hadn’t settled on the major events that would define the games, and the rules and procedures were less than rigid. This resulted in some bizarre situations. Since the aura around the games is often so serious, it is tempting to poke a little fun at the not-so-intense moments. Unfortunately, these are often quite intense when they happen, but in sports and other performing arts, you have to lean to laugh at yourself, after the fact. It helps keep you sane.

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CHARIOTS OF CHEATING – OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT? 
1896, Athens                                                          Spy
ridon Belokas
                                 
         Image Source: en.wikipedia.org/Spyridon_Belokas                                    
                                


Human nature never changes. During the inaugural Olympic marathon, Spyridon Belokas cheated by taking a carriage ride for a good chunk of the race. Yet somehow, even with that extra boost, he only managed to cross the finish line in third place.

Belokas was disqualified, and Gyula Kellner was awarded third place. Nonetheless, following his “victory”, Belokas was celebrated as a national hero.

O.M.G. - WOMEN? WHAT A SCANDLE!
1900, Paris
Twenty years before American women could vote, they were allowed to compete in the Olympics, which caused quite the k
erfuffle. Wat does that say about American culture and attitudes?
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​

                                                                          Image Source: https://www.redbookmag.com/scandalous-moments-in-olympics
That first year, 22 women competed in five events: tennis, equestrian, sailing, croquet, and golf, but it was a significant step for women.

According to
https://americaninquiry.com, the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal was Chicagoan Margaret Ives Abbott, who won the Olympic competition in women’s golf in Paris in 1900.


"Apparently the Paris Olympics were run in an off-hand fashion, for during her lifetime Margaret was never fully aware of what she had won. Only after her death did historians realize that her victory in what seemed to be just another golf tournament was actually part of the Olympic competition.  She received a bowl, not a medal." https://americaninquiry.com

BLOOD AND FEATHERS FLY
1900, Paris
Live pigeon shooting appeared for the first and only time as an Olympic event in the second modern Olympic games. Over 300 live pigeons were killed.

American sports historian Andrew Strunk wrote in a 1988 article on the 1900 Paris Olympics, “Maimed birds were writhing on the ground, blood and feathers were swirling in the air and women with parasols were weeping in the chairs set up nearby.”



CHEATING AND STRYCHNINE
1904, St. Louis Olympics
The 1904 long distance Marathon takes the prize for one of the most flagrant Olympic mishaps. Set in St. Louis, the modern Olympic Games were still in their infancy and, for the most part, the people in charge knew squat about what was required for such an event.

The foot race was set under the worst circumstances. The 25-mile race ‒ which was actually 24.85 miles ‒ started in the afternoon in hot 103°F weather. The roads were dusty, and automobiles were allowed to use the roads during the race, making the dust worse. The only water stop for the runners was at the 12-mile mark. These unfortunate conditions resulted in several unusual situations.

Frederick "Fred" Lorz was a competitor in the marathon and headed the pack of 32 runners and reached the 12-mile mark first. He had to stop there due to exhaustion. As a joke ‒ or maybe not ‒ his manager gave him an 11-mile lift until the car broke down. Lorz ran the rest of the way to the Olympic stadium where he broke the ribbon. The crowd screamed for the American. 


Alice Roosevelt, daughter of the US President, laid a wreath on Lorz's head and was going to hang a gold medal on his neck, when the organizers called him a cheater (other versions say it was spectators who blew the whistle).  Either way, Lorz laughed and said he was not going to accept the award and had finished the race merely as a joke.
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Fred Lorz - Image Source:                       Image source: unbelievable-facts.com/2017/09/
en.wikipedia.org/Frederick_Lorz 
      

Lorz was banned for life by the Amateur Athletic Union. He apologized for the prank and was ultimately reinstated because the AAU determined he had not intended to defraud. He continued in the sport until he died of pneumonia in 1914.

Thomas Hicks, in second place and still limping along the track, heard that Lorz was disqualified, came back to life, and forced himself to jog. His coach gave him more strychnine, this time with brandy.

"Over the last two miles of the road,” one of the people who watched the race wrote, “Hicks was running mechanically, like a well-oiled piece of machinery. His eyes were dull, lusterless; the ashen color of his face and skin had deepened; his arms appeared as weights well tied down; he could scarcely lift his legs, while his knees were almost stiff.”


Winner, Thomas Hicks, had his own secrets. Near the 19-mile mark, he started to hallucinate. He asked for food and then decided to lie down. His handlers bathed him head to toe in warm water and administered a concoction of eggs, brandy, and strychnine.

By the end of the race, he could barely shuffle his feet as the result of exhaustion and the strychnine - basically rat poison - and had to walk the rest of the way. Several of the 32 contenders in the race became ill that night, and Hick even came close to dying. He gave up running the next day.


TUG OF WAR
1904, St. Louis Olympics
Tug-of-war was introduced in Paris 1900 and remained an event through the Olympics at Antwerp in 1920, although the 1916 games were cancelled because of WWI.

Traditionally, the best teams came from Scandinavia and Great Britain, but in 1904 one of the American squads ‒ the Milwaukee Athletic Club ‒ managed to capture gold despite the fact that none of the team members were from Milwaukee nor were they members of the Milwaukee Athletic Club. Losing teams filed a grievance to no avail.

Needless to say, the rules still tended to be a bit haphazard even by the third modern games and the precedent for manipulating the teams had been set in 1900 when competitors from Sweden and Denmark teamed up to beat the French.

The fate of the American team in the event's debut is even more bizarre: Some sources say they never competed, while others say they were disqualified.


DECIDE ON THE RULES BEFORE THE RACE
1908, London
In 1908, in the finals of the men’s 400-meter race, American John Carpenter maneuvered to block Britain's Wyndham Halswelle ‒ legal under American track rules, but illegal in Great Britain. Of course, Carpenter was disqualified. Well, after all, the games were in being held in London. Obviously, their rules took precedence.

The two other athletes who qualified with Halswelle were American. They were angry enough at the ruling that they boycotted the final. Halswelle ran the redo of the final all by himself. Guess who won?

GENDER TESTING WITH A TWIST
1936, Berlin
When Polish Stella Walsh ‒ defending gold-medalist of the 100-meter dash and favored to win again ‒ lost to an 18-year-old bullet from Missouri, Helen Stephens, Walsh supporters insisted that Stephens’ time was simply impossible for a woman and demanded a gender examination. Stephens agreed to the humiliation of examination by the Olympic Committee and they, indeed, found her to be a woman. She carried home the gold medal.
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Image Source:  Helen Stephens ▲- Image Credit:                De Desconocido - [1], Dominio público
redbookmag.com/scandalous-moments-in-olympics          Image credit: commons.wikimedia.org/w/index                                                                                 
The Twist: Forty-four years later in 1980, Stella Walsh was shot to death outside a Cleveland shopping mall. When the autopsy was performed, it was discovered that Stella Walsh had male genitalia, not Helen Stephens.

28 YEARS LATER, GENDER TESTING STILL UNRELIABLE
1964, Tokyo
Again, gender testing proves unreliable. Ewa Kłobukowska, a Polish sprinter, competed in the 4×100-meter relay and the 100-meter sprint and took home a gold and a bronze medal, respectively, which were stripped from her in 1967 for failing a gender test. 


Surprise, surprise!  In 1968 Klobukowska became pregnant and gave birth to a son.  Her medals were never restored to her, however.  It took years for people to realize that she must have had a genetic abnormality of having one chromo-some too many. 

NOT SO FUNNY ANY MORE
By the second half of the 20th century, the Olympics was evolving into big business internationally. TV coverage and the competition of professional athletes changed the name of the game, so to speak.

With this shift, there was no official tolerance for incidents of cheating and incompetent management. No doubt such events occurred, but they were not amusing anymore, and kept a quiet as possible. In addition, no matter the rhetoric, the games had great political importance.

With the advances in photographic equipment and technology, the sources of funny incidents during the Olympics narrowed done to offer abundant opportunities for funny photos. Nobody is posing, and many of the sports require close body contact. If a photographer happens to be in the right place at the right time, some of the results are hilarious. Some of them make you feel mean for laughing, but you can’t help it.

You do get to see a lot of open mouths, teeth, and tongues in Olympic candid shots, and athletes sometimes just goofing around.   


WRESTLING                                  BOXING                                                     
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SAILING                                           SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING
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​SYNCHRONIZED PEOPLE WATCHING
​PING PONG                                      SWIMMING
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​WOMEN'S TRACK        GYMNASTICS               MEN'S TRACK
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                                                         "I seem to have lost my head!"            "Oh! There it is!"

JUST SAY'IN

■
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Lorz
https://unbelievable-facts.com/2017/09/craziest-historical-incidents.html

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/07/9-olympic-moments-that-changed-history/
https://www.stadiumtalk.com/s/weirdest-olympic-sports-faa578fdf7fe437f

https://olympics.com/en/olympic-games/athens-1896
https://olympics.com/en/news/the-history-of-the-olympic-games
https://thesilversword.com/sports/2016/08/29/top-10-ridiculous-olympic-sports/
https://bvmsports.com/2020/07/23/paris-hosts-1900-olympics-even-though-many-didnt-know-it/
http://www.allrefer.com/12-unknown-facts-about-olympic-games
https://americaninquiry.com/tag/margaret-abbott-dunne/
http://www.insidethegames.biz
.com
https://birdinflight.com/world/20160824-marathon-during-1904-olympics.html
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30478212
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyridon_Belokas
https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/olympic-controversy
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41546035
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89624871
https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/1900_Paris_Games_Olympics_79847.jpg

https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/revival-and-reinvention-olympic-games-athens-1896?language_content_entity=en

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/31386/11-craziest-events-olympic-history#:~:text=The%201904%
20marathon%20was%20one%20of%20the%20most,that%20were%20permitted%20to%20drive%20alongside
%20the%20athletes.


https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/revival-and-reinvention-olympic-games-athens-1896?language_content_entity=en

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1041711/anniversary-of-boxings-battle-of-seoul-highlights
-the-continuing-struggle-to-rid-the-olympics-of-controversy-in-the-ring


https://www.theage.com.au/sport/from-the-archives-1988-referee-flees-seoul-olympics-after-ring-assaults
20200918-p55wxa.html


https:/www.theage.com.au/sport/from-the-archives-1988-referee-flees-seoul-olympics-after-ring-assaults
-20200918-p55wxa.html


https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1041711/anniversary-of-boxings-battle-of-seoul-highlights
-the-continuing-struggle-to-rid-the-olympics-of-controversy-in-the-ring

Sources for “Funny Photos”:
https://worldwideinterweb.com/the-100-funniest-summer-olympics-photos-of-all-time/
https://www.heart.co.uk/news/sport/hilarious-olympic-pictures/
https://acidcow.com/pics/35912-crazy-and-funny-olympic-photos-105-pics.html  
https://www.qunki.com/93428/funny-olympic-fails-that-might-make-you-feel-bad-for-laughing/
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/talking-olympics-hilarious
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/talking-olympics-hilarious
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/158189005632300669/
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/best-rio-2016-olympic-faces-agony-ecstasy-wtf-1575365
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/158189005632300669/
http://thumbpress.com/can-norway-get-any-more-awesome/#sthash.RSDfwyRp.dpbs
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/02/10/27-pictures-of-funny-faces-from-the-sochi-2014-winter
-olympics-photos_n_4758755.html#gallery/5d023352e4b09d75a615c871/2

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1041711/anniversary-of-boxings-battle-of-seoul-highlights-the
-continuing-struggle-to-rid-the-olympics-of-controversy-in-the-ring

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WHAT'S IN A NAME? gelato vs. Ice Cream - A Conflict of Terms

8/9/2024

0 Comments

 
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Summer is here, and what better time to kick back, relax, and enjoy the delicious, smooth taste of a dish of ice cream to tickle the taste buds, or maybe a cup of gelato. Most Americans delight in the taste of frozen desserts without knowing or caring what the ingredients, as long as it tastes good. 

​Eating Ice Cream in front of the Pantheon, Rome
Image Source:
diaryofawannabeworldtraveler.com

CONFUCIUS SAY "CONFUSION OF DEFINITIONS"
The world’s love affair with icy delights is centuries old. The earliest evidence of frozen desserts can be traced back to ancient China, when people consumed ice flavored with various syrups and extracts. This gives humankind thousands of years to get confused about names of frozen desserts, of which there are many.
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The need for an explanation exists because of a confusion of definitions. I place this at the feet of the English language, which has been quick in previous years to absorb words from other languages. While these new English words may have the same spelling and pronunciation (or not), Americans usually give the new word a different meaning, often unintentionally.

​​
A BBC publication claims that "Although English is now borrowing from other languages with a worldwide range, the number of new borrowed words finding their way into the shared international vocabulary is on a long downward trend. One big reason for this is the success of English as an international language of science, scholarship, business, and many other fields." www.bbc.com/news/magazine

BE SPECIFIC
In order to explain the difference between gelato and ice cream, I have to get excessively specific. Sorry.

First, ice cream and gelato are only two of a large variety of frozen desserts made worldwide, including cakes and drinks. This blog does not attempt to address those.

Second -- and be very clear on this -- Gelato is the Italian word for the English word ice cream. Another definition of the word in Italian is frozen. Linguistically, there is no difference between gelato and ice cream, other than the way it is prepared, i.e. the recipe, which isn't part of the simple definitions. Just as different locations and countries have different recipes for preparing the same foods, gelato is Italy's recipe and process for making ice cream. France, America, and other locations have their own unique recipes for ice cream plus many other frozen desserts which go by a variety of names.

Third, the word gelato has been subsumed into the English language, not meaning just ice cream, but the particular recipe and process the Italians use when they make ice cream.

If you look gelato up in Merriam-Webster dictionary, it means "a soft rich ice cream containing little or no air." In the Oxford and Cambridge Dictionaries it is "the Italian style of ice cream (a cold, soft, sweet food), made from milk, cream, sugar, and fruit or other flavors mixed together and frozen." 


A BRIEF HISTORY OF GELATO
The website whygelato.com/history gives a brief rundown of the history of gelato, the word for ice cream in Italian.

"• 7000 BC - Asian cultures discover they can consume crushed ice and flavorings.
  • 2500 BC - Egyptian pharaohs offer their guests a cup of ice sweetened with fruit juices.
  • 0 - The Romans begin a custom of consuming the ice of Mt. Etna and Mt. Vesuvius with honey.

  • 1500-1550 - Ruggeri participates in a competition in Florence and wins with a frozen sweet (a sorbet or sorbetto)."

"• 1550-1600 - Buontalenti prepares a banquet for the King of Spain and gelato is served for the first time..."  At this point, there were two types of gelato.l "... one made by mixing water with fruits such as lemon and strawberries (also known as Sorbetto), and another made by mixing milk with cinnamon, pistachio, coffee or chocolate."

Here is where some of the confusion starts. The Italians, and I presume other Europeans, referred to both types of frozen desserts by the name gelato (and continue to do so as far as I can tell from my Italian relatives and dictionary). From the 16th century forward, references to gelato appear to mean the kind of gelato Americans call ice cream, i.e. made with dairy products, not water or ice.


"• 1686 - Francesco Procopio moves from Palermo to Paris and opens a café, making gelato famous all over Europe.
  • 1770 - Giovanni Basiolo introduces gelato in New York.
 • 1846 - Hand-crank freezer is perfected in America and changes the way the frozen dessert is made.
  • 1967 - Luciano Rabboni starts PreGel and creates the first semi-finished gelato product."

Let's take a look at the differences.


ICE CREAM
All ice cream is made with a base of heavy cream, milk, sugar, and sometimes eggs and/or egg yolks. The base is churned at specified speeds in an ice cream maker before mix-ins are added. Recipes vary but those are the basic ingredients of all ice cream.

American Ice Cream
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that, in the US, food products to be labeled as "Ice cream" (traditional hard ice cream, not soft serve), must contain at least 10% milk fat by weight, although most American brands will have 14 to 25%
BE SPECIFIC
In order to explain the difference between gelato and ice cream, I have to get excessively specific. Sorry.

First, ice cream and gelato are only two of a large variety of frozen desserts made worldwide, including cakes and drinks. This blog does not attempt to address those.

Second -- and be very clear on this -- Gelato is the Italian word for the English word ice cream. Another definition of the word in Italian is frozen. Linguistically, there is no difference between gelato and ice cream, other than the way it is prepared, i.e. the recipe, which isn't part of the simple definitions. Just as different locations and countries have different recipes for preparing the same foods, gelato is Italy's recipe and process for making ice cream. France, America, and other locations have their own unique recipes for ice cream plus many other frozen desserts which go by a variety of names.

Third, the word gelato has been subsumed into the English language, not meaning just ice cream, but the particular recipe and process the Italians use when they make ice cream.

If you look gelato up in Merriam-Webster dictionary, it means "a soft rich ice cream containing little or no air." In the Oxford and Cambridge Dictionaries it is "the Italian style of ice cream (a cold, soft, sweet food), made from milk, cream, sugar, and fruit or other flavors mixed together and frozen." 


A BRIEF HISTORY OF GELATO
The website whygelato.com/history gives a brief rundown of the history of gelato, the word for ice cream in Italian.

"• 7000 BC - Asian cultures discover they can consume crushed ice and flavorings.
  • 2500 BC - Egyptian pharaohs offer their guests a cup of ice sweetened with fruit juices.
  • 0 - The Romans begin a custom of consuming the ice of Mt. Etna and Mt. Vesuvius with honey.

  • 1500-1550 - Ruggeri participates in a competition in Florence and wins with a frozen sweet (a sorbet or sorbetto)."

"• 1550-1600 - Buontalenti prepares a banquet for the King of Spain and gelato is served for the first time..."  At this point, there were two types of gelato.l "... one made by mixing water with fruits such as lemon and strawberries (also known as Sorbetto), and another made by mixing milk with cinnamon, pistachio, coffee or chocolate."

Here is where some of the confusion starts. The Italians, and I presume other Europeans, referred to both types of frozen desserts by the name gelato (and continue to do so as far as I can tell from my Italian relatives and dictionary). From the 16th century forward, references to gelato appear to mean the kind of gelato Americans call ice cream, i.e. made with dairy products, not water or ice.


"• 1686 - Francesco Procopio moves from Palermo to Paris and opens a café, making gelato famous all over Europe.
  • 1770 - Giovanni Basiolo introduces gelato in New York.
 • 1846 - Hand-crank freezer is perfected in America and changes the way the frozen dessert is made.
  • 1967 - Luciano Rabboni starts PreGel and creates the first semi-finished gelato product."

Let's take a look at the differences.


ICE CREAM
All ice cream is made with a base of heavy cream, milk, sugar, and sometimes eggs and/or egg yolks. The base is churned at specified speeds in an ice cream maker before mix-ins are added. Recipes vary but those are the basic ingredients of all ice cream.

American Ice Cream
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that, in the US, food products to be labeled as "Ice cream" (traditional hard ice cream, not soft serve), must contain at least 10% milk fat by weight, although most American brands will have 14 to 25%

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         American Ice Cream                               image source: www.magnumicecream.com/icecream-

French-style ice cream incorporates egg yolks into the base, while American and Philadelphia style may not. American ice cream also has a faster churning process which introduces more air into the product which affects the density. 

Italian Ice Cream / Gelato
Italian ice cream is also made with the same ingredients: heavy cream, milk, sugar, but most commonly without eggs or egg yolks, but it may have them. The lower milk fat content is usually 3.8 to 9%, yielding a softer, denser texture and smaller ice crystals. That results from the base containing less cream and more milk, as well as a slower churning process that introduces less air into the final product rendering it softer and denser.

According to Italian-feelings.com/ the four distinctions between American and Italian ice cream are:

1 – Italian ice cream has much less fat because it is made with fresh milk and not powdered milk or cream as with America ice cream.

(I couldn't verify that all commercially American-made ice creams are made with powdered milk, but I did find that at least some of them are. Using powdered milk is claimed to make the ice cream creamier.)


2 – Italian ice cream is blended slowly, so it contains less air than industrially produced ice cream (10% air in Italian vs. 50% in American ice cream). A balanced quantity of air affects the consistency, smooth texture and appearance.

3 – Italian ice cream is kept at a temperature of around -12°C, while American industrially produced ice cream is usually kept at an average of -20°C. This makes an unmistakable difference to the product’s taste.

4 – Italian handmade ice cream is usually made in small batches that are consumed shortly afterwards. That’s why it doesn’t need the preservatives or additives that industrially produced ice cream needs to be stored for long periods of time.

Overall, American and Italian ice cream (Gelato) are differentiated by the proportion of ingredients in the base and the rate at which they’re churned. The Italian version contains less milk fat and is churned at a slower rate, and is typically served at a warmer temperature, introducing less air to the dessert and yielding a softer and denser texture. 

Gelato tastes differently from American Ice Cream and results in greater flavor experience because there is less fat that coats the taste buds, more flavor per spoonful due to lower quantity of air and, the taste buds are more alive since the temperature is not so cold as to dull their sensitivity.
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Italian ice cream is softer and silkier
Image Sources: 
https://www.talentigelato.com/us/en/products/gelatos.html?gclid


Italian ice cream is often made fresh and in lesser quantities which allows Italian ice cream shops to keep the temperature of the cases higher than American shops. This higher temperature gives Italian ice cream a silkier texture. The Italian government requires a milk fat content of at least 3%. You didn't really need to know that, did you?

SORBET
But wait! What happened to the other type of Italian gelato that has no dairy products? What should we call that?

Technically, it is still gelato. As generally used by Italians, the term may include both sorbet and granita, another similar frozen dessert which is very popular in the southern parts of Italy.
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   Italian Sorbet                                                         Italian Granita
   Image Sources: 
https://www.talentigelato.com/us/en/products/gelatos.html?gclid


The most notable difference with sorbet is that the concoction does not contain any dairy products. Its composition is simple: water, sugar, and a flavoring agent (typically fruit purée or fruit juice). Its smooth consistency comes mainly from its churning process, which is near-identical to that of ice cream. Sometimes, producers will even put alcohol into sorbet to give it a smoother texture, due to alcohol’s low freezing point.

Compared to its sibling Italian ice, sorbet is much richer and packs roughly twice the calories. However, it is also low fat because there are no dairy products in the mixture of the base.

ITALIAN ICE
Italian ice was created in America, despite its name, by Italian immigrants in the early 20th century. Italian ice contains water, sugar, fruit purées or juices, and sometimes natural or artificial flavoring. These are the same ingredients as Italian sorbet and granita, and some gelatos.

The key difference between sorbet and Italian ice is the ice itself: The latter contains larger chunks and is churned at a slightly slower rate than sorbet, giving it a more grainy, slightly crunchy texture. Italian ice is less dense than sorbet, which explains its lower calorie count — there’s simply more ice in it.
Picture
Water ice is another form of Italian ice, native to the Philadelphia area. It’s slightly chunkier than standard Italian ice, but it’s more or less the same thing — unless you ask someone from Philly.

FROZEN CUSTARD
Here is another frozen dessert to throw into the mix(er), just to confuse the issue, and I can assure that the dairy case at your grocery store will have even more products.

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The FDA requires frozen custard to include 1.4% eggs yolks in the base. Like ice cream, it must also include a minimum of 10% milk fat by weight.

Retail shops make this frozen dessert in a machine that incorporates minimal air, creating a richer, silkier product that is more gelato-like in texture, but with a pronounced custard flavor from the egg yolks.


SHERBET
Another delightful version is sherbert or sherbet, a frozen dessert made from water, sugar, a dairy product such as cream or milk, and a flavoring, such as wine, liqueur, fruit juice, purée, and occasionally non-fruit flavors such as vanilla, chocolate, or peppermint.
It is distinct from sorbet, which contains no dairy products.

Picture

Image Source: http://www.Beyers.com/Beyers

The United States defines Sherbet in the Code of Federal Regulations as a frozen product containing one or more optional dairy products. Sorbet, on the other hand, is made with sweetened water and no dairy, similar to Italian ice.

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME...
Actually, may not be as sweet, but all frozen desserts are yummy and taste oh-so-good on a hot summer day, or any other day, in my opinion. So, what is all this whoop-la about?

Italian gelato -- primarily the ice cream kind but also the non-dairy product version -- is increasingly popular in the USA. Studies show the consumption of Italian ice cream (aka gelato) in the USA has been constantly increasing since 2009, with annual sales estimated to be worth approximately $210 million. It is a smaller share of the frozen dessert market but has the fastest growth (up 32% in 2016).


WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU ORDER GELATO
If you are in Italy, the United States, or any other place in the world, and you ask for a "gelato", there is no telling what you are really going to get, or what the purveyor will call it. In Italy you will probably be served Italian ice cream... but maybe not. In the United States, you might have to go to a specialty store or Italian restaurant to get gelato. Decorated and ready to serve, these products look very similar unless you pay close attention.

My advice: Ask Before You Order
If there is something you are allergic to, can't eat, or dislike, always ask about the contents of a frozen dessert product. Most of the products in the category of gelato will contain a dairy product or two. Sorbet (although this may be called gelato by the retailer or restaurant) and ices or Italian ice are not made with dairy products. Remember, flavorings can also cause an allergic reaction. You don't need to argue about the name, only the ingredients.


In the United States there are no government standards for gelato, so whatever you are served, if it is advertised as "ice cream", it has to have 10% milk fat by weight. If it bears another name, all bets may be off.

JUST SAYIN'
Sources:
https://ouritalianjourney.com/gelato-vs-american-ice-cream/
https://italian-feelings.com/italian-gelato-vs-ice-cream-the-four-differences-between-them/
https://lifehacker.com/make-creamier-ice-cream-with-powdered-skim-milk-1715528125
 https://www.foodandwine.com/gelato-vs-ice-cream-8609179
https://vinepair.com/articles/ice-cream-sorbet-italian-ice-gelato-differences-explained/
http://www.dreamstime.com-Images-Free
https://www.menuswithprice.com/culvers-menu
https://nationaltoday.com/national-frozen-custard-day
https://news.italianfood.net/2021/01/07/the-us-ice-cream-market-is-worth-5-billion/
https://whygelato.com/gelato-101/what-is-gelato/

https://www.talentigelato.com/us/en/products/gelatos.html?gclid=c5864670a38e1e60737620fe720ee7f4&gclsrc=3p.ds&msclkid=c5864670a38e1e60737620fe720ee7f4&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=EN_ICEUND_General-Gelato_Inf_Txt_CPC_GenProd_PM_Bads_Tal00000

https://www.magnumicecream.com/us/en/products/icecream-bars.html?&msclkid=97c0d8d722ea15cb0831be59fa1a0a96&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=EN_ICEUND_Always-On-CN000557_Inf_Txt_CPC_GenProd_BM_General-_Bads_Mag0000126&utm_term=ice%20cream%20w

ttps://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26014925#:~:text=Although%20English%20is%20now%20borrowing%20from%20other%20l

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbet_(frozen_dessert)#:~:text=Sherbet%20%28%E2%AB%BD%20%CB%88%CA%83%C9%9C%CB%90rb%C9%99t%20%E2%AB%BD%29%2C%20often%20referred%20to%20as,non-fruit%20flavors%20such%20as%20vanilla%2C%20chocolate%2C%20or%20peppermint.

https://fthmb.tqn.com/JUp6yBMz7ZPjB7OCpggoNi6aXXs=/2500x1844/filters:fill(auto,1)/rainbow-sherbet-2500-57638b923df78c98dcd30fa9.jpg
https://slicesconcession.com/blogs/frozen-dessert-industry-and-machine-articles/liquid-vs-powder-ice-cream-mix-what-you-need-to-know​

https://www.consumerreports.org/consumerist/whats-the-difference-between-ice-cream-frozen-custard-and-gelato/#:~:text=For%20a%20product%20to%20be%20labeled%20ice%20cream%2C,standard%20prevents%20manufacturers%20from%2C%20essentially%2C%20selling%20you%20air.,

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    Author R. Ann Siracusa

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