The US Surgeon General has managed to turn a tweet about ice cream into a debate after he celebrated National Ice Cream Cone Day by admitting that he prefers to eat just the cone.
On Thursday 22 September, Vivek Murthy took to Twitter to share his unique ice cream preference, where the public health official revealed that he likes ice cream cones “without the ice cream”.
Murthy expressed the opinion, which he noted was likely an “unpopular” one, alongside two photos showing him holding the empty waffle cone he appeared to order at an ice cream stand.
“This might be an unpopular opinion, but I love ice cream cones - without the ice cream. Happy #NationalIceCreamConeDay!” Murthy wrote.
The tweet, which has since been liked more than 3,000 times, sparked a debate in the comments, with some confident that the surgeon general was joking, while others expressed their disagreement with the ice cream preference.
“Not unpopular so much as it is baffling,” one person tweeted, while another joked: “There was no need to tweet this.”
According to someone else, they would need some time to “process this information”.
Some even went as far as to jokingly suggest that Murthy’s preference was an “impeachable” offence”.
“This ‘expert’ is in charge of US public health,” one person wrote, while someone else tweeted: “Impeach???”
Others questioned whether President Joe Biden, who is known for his affinity for the dessert, knows about the surgeon general’s ice cream opinion.
“Does this guy know what his boss, Joseph loves ice cream Biden, would say?” one person asked.
However, others were supportive of the health professional’s opinion, with some noting that it just means that Murthy likes waffles, while others revealed that they too prefer just the cone rather than a cone filled with ice cream.
“Just say you like waffles my man there’s nothing wrong with liking waffles,” one person tweeted, while another said: “Waffles! You like waffles!”
“Me too! I have a box in my pantry right now!” someone else revealed.
While the origins of the ice cream cone are debated, National Day Calendar notes that the earliest mention shows up in French cookbooks around 1825, where they were referred to as “little waffles”.
Ice cream cones became popular in the US in the late 1800s, according to the website, which reports that the ice cream cone made its debut at the World’s Fair in St Louis in 1904.
