The best summer snacks (according to you)

Summary

Pop Culture Happy Hour – The Best Summer Snacks (According to You)

Episode Date: July 27, 2026
Hosts: Linda Holmes, Stephen Thompson, Glen Weldon, Aisha Harris

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Overview

This lively episode of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour is a listener-powered showdown to determine the ultimate summer snacks. Hosts Linda Holmes, Stephen Thompson, Glen Weldon, and Aisha Harris play a spirited guessing game, trying to predict which summer treats the audience voted as the best in head-to-head matchups. The show covers sweet and savory classics, with the conversation filled with nostalgia, regional biases, quirky snack wisdom, and plenty of heartfelt (and hilarious) opinions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Listener-Driven Snack Bracket

• The episode structure centers around Linda presenting pairs (or trios) of iconic summer snacks. The rest of the panel must guess which one came out on top according to a listener survey.
• “We are revealing the results in a game all about summer snacks.” (Linda Holmes, 01:21)

2. Fried Dough Faceoff: Churro vs. Funnel Cake

• Aisha: Predicts listeners would prefer funnel cake due to its "fair or beach" summer vibe (02:50).
• Glen: Advocates for churros, noting their prevalence at zoos, theme parks, and even in urban street carts:
  "Churros are on the streets of New York. They're sold at every zoo, every theme park. I think they're going to win the day. I'm going with churros." (03:43)
• Stephen: Backs churro for versatility and its "replace all meals" potential.
• Linda: Laments the absence of State Fair mini donuts, describing them with nostalgic delight (04:13–04:54).
• Result: Churro edges out funnel cake with 54.4% (05:04).
  • “State Fair mini donuts are the actual answer.” (Linda Holmes, 04:54)

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3. Classic Summer Drink: Lemonade vs. Iced Tea

• Stephen: Claims iced tea is “far more versatile,” can be caffeinated or sweetened in various ways (06:03).
• Aisha: Rooting for lemonade, yet cynically expects iced tea to win due to table-service experience (06:40).
• Glen: Expounds on the practical difference between the drinks:
  "You take the sugar out of iced tea, you got iced tea. You take the sugar out of lemonade, you have literal acid." (07:10)
• Result: Lemonade wins decisively with 60.4% of the vote (07:37).
  • “Yeah, you're all wrong. Lemonade came in first place…” (Linda Holmes, 07:37)

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4. Cookout Main Event: Hamburger vs. Hot Dog

• Glen: Strong anti-hot dog stance:
  “Hamburgers rule. Hot dogs drool. ...They lack texture, grit, whatever. ...It's the meat of least resistance.” (08:13–08:56)
• Aisha & Stephen: Both advocate for the hot dog as the iconic “summery” food, simpler and more baseball-appropriate (09:00–10:01).
• Result: Hamburger takes it at 60.5% (10:36).
  • “I believe in humanity.” (Glen Weldon, 10:46)

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5. Dairy Queen Showdown: Dilly Bar vs. Blizzard vs. Peanut Buster Parfait

• Glen: Nostalgic for Peanut Buster Parfait but expects Blizzard to win due to sheer popularity (13:49).
• Stephen: Declares Blizzard with Heath bars as the “perfect food” and derides the “waxy” dilly bar (14:24–15:04).
• Aisha: Would pick boring vanilla cones or Misty Slush, but assumes listeners picked Blizzard (15:15–16:15).
• Result: Blizzard dominates with 78.1% (16:25).

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6. Ice Cream Cone Debate: Cake Cone vs. Sugar Cone vs. Waffle Cone

• Aisha: Picks waffle cone despite messiness; says it’s the “people’s cone” (17:19).
• Glen: Defends cake cone for subtlety:
  “The cake cone is perfect. But people are gonna say sugar cones, and I don't know why.” (18:25)
• Stephen: Favors the waffle cone for flavor, calling it “the most delicious cookie substance to eat of the three.” (18:45)
• Result: Waffle cone wins with 60.1%, followed by sugar cone (27.6%) and cake cone (12.3%) (19:25–20:23).

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7. Ice Cream Truck vs. Ice Cream Shop

• Stephen: Leans toward the nostalgic “ice cream truck comes to you” argument (20:50).
• Glen: Roasts ice cream shop “weird smell” and celebrates the “crispy” ice cream sandwich from trucks, but guesses listeners want shop choice (22:14–23:33).
• Aisha: Nostalgia vs. practical preference, but votes for the emotional power of trucks (23:35).
• Result: Listeners prefer ice cream shop—overwhelmingly, at 83.7% (25:10–25:19).

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8. Coastal Classic: Lobster Roll vs. Crab Cake

• Aisha & Glen: Side with crab cake (Baltimore pride and practicality) (25:40 & 25:46).
• Stephen: Stands up for lobster roll, even if it’s at the risk of “Maryland citizenship revoked” (25:53).
• Result: Lobster roll prevails with 54.4% (26:04).

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9. Final Scores & Reflections

• Tie: Stephen and Glen each guess 4 answers correctly; Aisha gets 2.
• Linda: “Everybody did a wonderful job.” (26:36)

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Memorable Quotes & Ironies

• Linda Holmes (on state fair donuts, 04:54):
  “State fair mini donuts are the actual answer, but they have to be apple cider...Anarchy.”
• Glen Weldon (on hot dogs, 08:56):
  “It’s the meat of least resistance...It’s just featureless, undifferentiated sponginess.”
• Stephen Thompson (on blizzards, 14:24):
  “The best Dairy Queen menu item is a Blizzard with Heath bars. That, to me, is a perfect food.”
• Glen Weldon (on cone preferences, 18:25):
  “Waffle cones, sugar cones, they're bossy. They're divas. ...The cake cone is perfect.”
• Linda Holmes (on ice cream shops, 19:25):
  “...the best cone is no cone. Right.”
• Glen Weldon (on ice cream shops, 22:14):
  “Ice cream shops smell weird. There, I said it.”
• Stephen Thompson (ice cream truck options, 20:50):
  “Is the treat I'm eating vaguely shaped like spongebob or is it vaguely shaped like Spider Man?”

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Timestamps for Notable Segments

• [02:50] – Aisha on churro vs. funnel cake
• [04:13–04:54] – Linda’s ode to state fair mini donuts
• [07:10] – Glen’s drink dissection: iced tea vs. lemonade
• [08:13–08:56] – Glen’s manifesto against hot dogs
• [13:49–15:04] – Dairy Queen nostalgia and blizzard supremacy
• [16:25] – Blizzards claim victory
• [18:25] – Glenn’s cake cone defense
• [20:50] – Stephen on the power of the ice cream truck
• [22:14] – Glen on the “weird smell” of ice cream shops
• [25:40] – Regional pride: lobster roll vs. crab cake
• [26:32–26:36] – Final results and wrap-up

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Tone & Dynamics

The conversation is playful, opinionated, nostalgic, and often tongue-in-cheek. Hosts blend deep-dive food analysis with warm personal memories and gentle roasting of each other’s culinary quirks. Regular asides provide charming detours, revealing much about the hosts' personalities and regional upbringings.

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Summary by Pop Culture Happy Hour Fan – For snack aficionados, summer lovers, and anyone who has strong feelings about the humble ice cream cone!

Transcript

[A]

This message comes from National Geographic's Pompeii out of Time with Tom Hiddleston, a new series from the executive producers of Loki. Pompeii out of Time with Tom Hiddleston is now streaming on Disney and Hulu.

[B]

There's plenty to love about summer, summer music, summer road trips, summer movies. But to enjoy all those things, you have to sustain yourself somehow. And, and that means summer snacks. But what are the best summer treats of all? It's an important question. So to make sure that we were getting the real true answers to what the best snacks are, we didn't want to just rely on ourselves. We wanted to let the people decide. And we are revealing the results in a game all about summer snacks. I'm Linda Holmes, and in this episode of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we're featuring an episode you might not have heard before it first ran as a bonus episode, which we publish every month for our NPR supporters. To get access to these bonus episodes and support shows like ours, sign up for NPR plus by visiting the link in our episode description. Now on to the show. Here with me today are my Pop Culture Happy Hour co host, Stephen Thompson. Hey, Stephen.

[C]

Hello, Linda.

[B]

And Glenn Weldon. Hi, Glenn.

[D]

Hey, pal.

[B]

And also here is my dear pal, Aisha Harris. Hey, Aisha.

[E]

Hey. Hey, Linda.

[B]

So we paired up summer treats and we put the question of which is better to Pop Culture Happy Hour listeners. Now our brilliant producers have crunched the numbers. They were in there with their abacus and their slide rule. And I have the answers in front of me about which our listeners picked. My co hosts do not. So I'm going to ask them to guess what was more popular with our listeners. They will get a point every time they guess correctly how the community voted.

[C]

It's going to be very hard to separate what I suspect listeners opinion will be with the immutable truth of whatever I think the truth.

[E]

Okay, yes, but that is our job, Steven. That's what we're supposed to do.

[D]

So I think I have the edge here. Cause I am famously a man of the people. I have the comic touch. But my well known setup is Joe Lunchpale won't necessarily serve me well. Cause this is a subset of the population, this is the NPR audience. So I think I need to be more Joe Quinoa. Right.

[B]

All right. So before we get started, by the way, I do want to make a note. Some of these things may not be things that you consider smart. That's okay.

[D]

Oh, did we hear from people?

[B]

Linda, if you eat enough of anything. It's a meal. So these are always questions of specific application. Don't worry about it. First up, we have one of my very favorite things, fried dough. So we asked our listeners which is better, churro or funnel cake? I'm gonna start with you, Aisha. What do you think our listeners preferred?

[E]

Okay, I know what I would pick. Of course, I feel like a lot of people will not consider churro to necessarily be a summer snack. You can eat it pretty much all year, especially in California. So churro is like a dessert if you go out for Mexican food. So I'm gonna say more listeners went with funnel cake.

[B]

Okay.

[E]

Just because it has that very specific, like, summer, I'm at the fair or at the beach kind of schedule to it.

[B]

So you're going funnel cake. How about you, Glenn?

[D]

Yes, I disagree because, I mean, I don't have a wide experience with churros. I mean, I think of them as West Coast, I think of them as Mexican. But of course, they're originally from Spanish and Portuguese cuisine. And my only inroad into that cuisine really is my husband. He's Cuban. But Cubans don't. I don't really mess around with churros. They are a pastelito people. But that said, conversely, I am a person who grew up in Pennsylvania, near Pennsylvania Dutch country. Pennsylvania Dutch are German immigrants. Funnel cakes are in my blood, in my coagulated blood. But I think they're more specialized. I think outside of a standard fair, you don't see them in the wild. Churros are on the streets of New York. They're sold at every zoo, every theme park. I think they're going to win the day. I'm going with churros.

[B]

All right, churros. How about you, Steven?

[C]

I agree with Glenn. Funnel cakes, a. Like Glenn said, they're more specialized. They're more. I think of them as a county fair food. Like, I could only replace one to two meals a day with a funnel cake.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

Whereas I could replace all meals with churros.

[B]

Gotcha.

[C]

Okay, so I'm gonna go with churro.

[B]

You're gonna go with churros. I just wanna say, before I reveal the answer, that the best possible answer is really missing from this. As you know, if you have ever been to the Minnesota State Fair, because the actual correct answer is state fair mini donuts. Now, if you have ever seen state fair state fair mini donuts, there's a little machine and it plops out the little dough into a little tiny mini donut, into the hot oil and it bobs down the little machine and eventually it gets flipped over and then it travels down the little conveyor belt, it gets tossed into a thing of sugar and it comes out and you eat it. I'm going to say roughly 17 seconds after it was fried.

[E]

Yes.

[B]

And I'm telling you right now, State fair mini donuts are the actual answer,

[E]

but they have to be apple cider. I feel like donuts regularly. Oh, come on.

[D]

Anarchy.

[B]

No, State fair mini donuts are fat flavored. The actual answer from our listeners, churro did beat funnel cake. Churro got 54.4% of the time. So funnel cake, very respectable showing.

[E]

Interesting. I mean, they're right because churros to me are better than funnel cake is too messy.

[B]

Ironic. Well, funnel cake is a little more chaotic, right? Yes, churros are a little more orderly. Anyway, next up, you cannot have snacks without drinks. So we asked which refreshing summer drink is better, lemonade or iced tea? I do want to note, some of our listeners asked why did we not offer the compromise solution of the drink known as the Arnold Palmer, which is a mix of iced tea and lemonade? I will grant you that is also a good drink. If you like a compromise, that's a good compromise. I am told that it is also known as a half and half a flop or a muddy water. Anyway, between these two classic drinks, lemonade and iced tea, what do you think our listeners chose? Stephen Thompson, I'm gonna start with you.

[C]

To me, this one is clear. It's iced tea. It is a far more versatile drink. It is far more likely to be heavily caffeinated. You can drink it unsweetened. You can drink it sweetened, you can drink it hyper sweetened. When I moved to DC, I really discovered the wonders of sweet tea.

[B]

I feel like I a joke about how, yes, sweet tea comes from Washington D.C. but I'm not going to say it because people won't know I'm kidding.

[C]

DC is nominally the South.

[B]

I gotcha.

[E]

I gotcha.

[C]

So to me, lemonade, it's fine, it's tart, it's delicious, but it's a little too, too tart. And if you want a refreshing summer drink, it's iced tea all the way.

[B]

Gotcha. Aisha, what do you think?

[E]

I mean, I think the correct answer is lemonade myself. But using my highly scientific research and my past as a former server in a restaurant and remembering what people tended to order in the summer, almost always iced tea with lemon on the side. So I think it's gotta be iced tea. I Don't get it. Because, Steven, you said it's versatile, but, like, I don't know, I like my tea hot. I think it's weird when it's cold.

[C]

Maybe that's just life contains multitudes.

[B]

Yeah. All right, Glenn, what do you think?

[D]

This is an interesting question, because on the surface, it seems like a 5050 proposition. It's not. As Stephen mentioned, this is actually a 3,366 question, because iced tea comes in two forms. Sweetened and unsweetened. Both are pop. You take the sugar out of iced tea, you got iced tea. You take the sugar out of lemonade, you have literal acid. So also, iced tea is the hot summer version of the most popular drink in the world. One of the most popular drinks in the world. This is iced tea in a wok.

[B]

Yeah, you're all wrong. Lemonade came in first place with 60.4%. Iced tea came in second with 39.6%.

[D]

Exactly.

[E]

I mean, I'm losing, but I'm actually happy about these choices so far.

[B]

I just want to say I personally drink much iced tea, unless I am pretty specifically drinking it and thinking of it as water. Slightly more interesting water. But anyway, our listeners chose lemonade. And good for them. Cause lemonade's delicious.

[C]

I was so sure.

[B]

Okay, onto one of the most obvious summer cookout matchups. Hamburger versus hot dog. Glenn, what do you think the listeners went with?

[D]

Well, here's where I begin to question my common touch. Because if it's up to me, there's no contest here. Hamburgers rule. Hot dogs drool. It's a consistency thing, because I think they're just too consistent. They're gross. They're too homogenized. They lack texture, grit, whatever. They lack interest. It's the meat of least resistance. It's why you give them to children, because you don't have to risk them having anything like, you know, flavor. It's why they slide down the gullets of the Joey Chestnuts of the world. It's why bologna grosses me out. Really? Cause they're just. I don't know. It's just featureless, undifferentiated sponginess. Now, sausage, chorizo, totally different vibe. Because of the grit, because of resistance and spice and texture. I can't believe that people love hot dogs more than hamburgers. I don't want to live in that world. So I'm going hamburger.

[B]

All right. Aisha, how about you?

[E]

Wow, I'm offended.

[C]

I know. I'm still just shaking my head over here.

[E]

Yep, Spitting truth Look, I love a good artisanal hamburger. You know, I've never been a McDonald's hamburger person. I prefer the bistro version, but I love a good ballpark, like the brand ballpark hot dog. Like all beef. I don't. I do like pork, but I don't like it in my hot dogs for some reason. There's nothing like it. If you're grilling it, it has flavor. It has that just like, especially if it's charred. So I feel like hot dog. And I'm gonna. Again, this is based off of my pitch when we were talking about funnel cake. I think that hot dog, hamburger you can eat all year round. Hot dog feels very specific to summer. This is probably not how people voted, but if I were voting, I'd say I think baseball games, I think, you know, going to an amusement park. I think of, you know, going to a barbecue and having also, like a hot dog just feels easier to eat than a burger if you're, like, trying to and talk to people. So I'm gonna say the people went with hot dog, and if they did, they are right.

[B]

All right, very good. Steven, how about you?

[C]

Yeah, Aisha said it all. I think hot dog is the more summery food. I don't think of this as my forearm so much as a shelf onto which hot dogs may be lined up at various summer sporting events. Love a hot dog with a little strip of mustard on one side, a little strip of ketchup on the other side. Unbeatable. You talk about flavor.

[D]

Beatable.

[C]

It's right there.

[D]

Very beatable. Eminently beatable.

[E]

I love how we're learning all of our icks.

[B]

All right, well, I mean, I am happy to tell Glenn only.

[E]

Oh, my God.

[B]

That the answer is hamburger. Hamburger beat hot dog. Getting 60.

[D]

All is right with the world.

[B]

60.5% of the vote for hamburgers.

[D]

I believe in humanity.

[C]

65%.

[B]

No. 60.5.

[C]

60.5. Still, my umbrage remains 60.5%. Yeah, that umbrage that seems I reserved

[D]

the right to I umbrage.

[E]

That's weird.

[B]

It is a little weird. All right, well, we have more questions in our summer snacks quiz, but first, let's take a quick break.

[A]

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[D]

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[B]

So we're going to move on to dessert now with one of the questions that I have to say people have felt most passionate about. This is the Dairy Queen Face Off. We asked Dilly Bar versus Blizzard versus Peanut Buster Parfait. Oh, by the way, our editor, Jessica Reedy had a note for me. We were asked why dipped cone was not in there. She says too similar to the Dilly Bar. So we chose to I see that.

[D]

We'll let Snooze litigate that themselves.

[C]

Ice cream with a shell.

[B]

Ice cream coated in chocolate is all one thing. All right, Glenn, why don't you kick us off? What do you think? Dilly Bar Blizzard, Peanut Buster Parfait.

[D]

Yeah, this is going to be Blizzard in a wok. I don't agree with it because my preference is purely nostalgic because blizzards were introduced in 1985. I was in high school. I my preferences were already set, but my preferences started with the Peanut Buster Parfait which should win, but won't. Cause after dinner, dad would load us up into the AMC Gremlin and we'd go out to the DQ on Route 202. Linda Holmes outside Westchester, and we'd watch the sunset as we sat on the picnic tables eating our Peanut Buster parfaits. I had one. He had one. That place is now a car dealership. Anyway, Blizzard. Wildly popular. It's gonna be the Blizzard.

[B]

Love it. All right, Blizzard. Glenn picks Blizzard. Steven, what do you pick?

[C]

Well, I grew up eating at Dairy Queens all over central Wisconsin. You're Stevens Point. Your. And I've tried every Dairy Queen menu item many times. In fact, in the interest of rigorous research, I went there just two days ago to confirm what I have thought all along, which is that the best Dairy Queen menu item is a Blizzard with Heath bars. That, to me, is a perfect food.

[D]

It's an aggressive stance.

[C]

I would have bet, by the way, $1,000 that Glenn would have uncorked a giant anti dilly bar screed in this conversation.

[D]

Because I'm aware of its work.

[C]

Because Glenn hates a waxy candy. It's true. Any candy that can be compared to cand. And the dilly bar coating is too waxy.

[B]

Yep, I get it. I get it. All right. So, Steven, what do you. You think that it's a blizzard?

[C]

I think it's a blizzard.

[B]

And you think the audience is gonna pick Blizzard?

[C]

I'm gonna say yes.

[B]

Okay. How about you, Aisha? What do you think?

[E]

I mean, I don't even know I'm playing anymore. Like, I'm not getting any of these correct. I don't know our listeners. Like, who are they? I don't know. I think it's obviously a blizzard. But, like, honestly, none of these are the best. I'm a very boring person when it comes to dessert. I don't like mixing things too. I like a plain vanilla cone, maybe. Maybe a little sprinkle, but not much. But I have memories myself of going to Dairy Queen. There was one in West Haven, Connecticut, and there was another one in Hampden, Connecticut. Went to both of them. They were always treats. My dad would take my sister and I after, like, tennis or just for. Because he wanted. He has a very big sweet tooth. And we would always get the misty slush.

[C]

Yeah, those are great.

[E]

So basically, DQ's take on the icy. It's different from the misty freeze, which is a mixture of slush and soft serve ice cream. I just like the slush. Just give me, like the cherry, the grape. Those were the best. That's what it should be. But I think our listeners. What do I know? I don't know. They're probably gonna say blizzard. So tell us what it is.

[D]

It's blizzard.

[C]

It's blizzard. Also, Aisha, I wanna second your statement on the Misty Freeze. Misty Slush, an ice cream novelty that is thirst quenching, is really hard to come by, and that's one of them.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

I am delighted to say that you are all correct. Blizzards came in first place with 78.1% of the vote.

[E]

I'm on the board.

[B]

Nice peanut buster parfait, 12.8%. And in the third place is the dilly bar. 9.1%. Poor, poor dilly Bar. I love a Dilly Bar. I gotta say, I got nothing against a Dilly Bar. While we are talking about ice cream, next up we have waffle cone versus sugar cone versus cake cone. Now, if you don't know the difference here, the cake cone is the. This small, flat bottomed one that tastes like Styrofoam. The sugar cone is the normal cone shaped one. And then the waffle cone is the big one where you can see it, like, wrapped and folded over. How do we think our listeners chose on cake cone versus waffle cone versus sugar cone? I'm going to start with Aisha.

[E]

This is a tough one. I did work in an ice cream shop for a couple of summers way back when. I feel as though most people, a lot of people really love to get the waffle cone. The waffle cone is so messy, especially if you put too many scoops of

[C]

ice cream, it loses its structural integrity.

[E]

Right. I think the best way to have a waffle cone is to have it in a bowl and then put the waffle cone on top and then you can, like, crunch it in. And that's the ideal way to do it. But anyone who tries to, like, eat it standing up, you are a daredevil. I don't get it. I'm gonna say waffle cone. I think that's where the people lie. Gotcha. I don't believe it, but yeah, waffle cone.

[D]

It's where the people are.

[B]

Good pick, good pick. All right, Glenn, how about you?

[D]

I think the sugar cone is popular. I don't understand why. It is dark brown, it's pointy. It has a very pronounced molasses flavor. Like a burnt molasses character.

[B]

Yes, there is that.

[D]

When you get to the bottom and you haven't done your homework and you haven't pushed the ice cream all the way down with your tongue, you just have this little nubbin of bitterness. Flat bottom cake cone is the best cone, which, as you mentioned, it is like Linda. It's very, like, thin Styrofoam, just a hint of flavor. It knows its place.

[E]

That's so right.

[D]

Which is why it works, because it is a vessel. It provides. It is only the mildest of flavors. You can use your tongue to make sure every compartment is filled out in every level. Waffle cones, sugar cones, they're bossy. They're divas. They're competing with the flavor of the ice cream. The cake cone is perfect. But people are gonna say sugar cones, and I don't know why.

[E]

All right.

[B]

All right, Stephen, what do you think?

[C]

Okay, so the nice thing about the cone with the styrofoam bottom, if you're eating soft serve, it does have a really nice way of soaking into the ridge of the cone in a way that is very pleasing to. I gotta say, waffle cone. It's just the most delicious cookie substance to eat of the three. And I think it goes the best with ice cream. Yes. Do you have to be careful about the structural integrity? Of course. But you knew the job was dangerous when you took it. People, I'm gonna say waffle cone all

[D]

the way for the daredevils among you.

[B]

I do wanna say for me, I kind of lean toward Aisha's answer. Which is the best cone is no cone. Right.

[C]

I can abide that.

[B]

When I go to get ice cream, I always get just a dish of ice cream, because that's what I care about. I care about the ice cream, assuming that it is good. Right. My family used to, when we were on vacation in Maine in the summer, used to go to this place called Dorman's Dairy Dream in Thomaston, Maine, and I would get a little dish of chocolate chip ice cream with chocolate sprinkles. And this was when I was a little kid, and I was there last summer. And you know what I ordered? Same thing, still good. Little dish of chocolate chip ice cream, chocolate sprinkles. Absolutely correct answer. But for our listeners, this is another one that was not particularly close. Waffle cone came in first with 60.1% of the vote. Second place was sugar cone with 27.6% of the vote. In third place was the styrofoam cone with 12.3%.

[D]

That's okay. It gets off on being underappreciated. It's fine.

[E]

I'm with you, Glenn. Though I do prefer the styrofoam cone.

[B]

Well, we're gonna stay on ice cream for one more question. I don't know about you, but in the summer, I personally get a lot of opportunities to listen to ice cream trucks, the sound systems of which are of varying quality. So we asked, do you love an ice cream truck or do you just wanna go to an ice cream shop? Steven, I think it's your turn to go first.

[C]

Yeah, and this is really, to me, one of the toughest ones. Obviously, like, an ice cream shop is a more pleasant place to go than the exterior of an ice cream truck. They tend to be air conditioned. You tend to have, like a large menu of sophisticated to the palate options to choose from. And when you get to an ice cream truck you're choosing from, like, is the treat I'm eating vaguely shaped like spongebob or is it vaguely shaped like Spider Man? And like, that is a, you know, not as fancy. But the ice cream truck comes to you. It comes to you when you're at your most in need of refreshment. And there's an element of surprise that sometimes comes with the arrival of the ice cream truck that makes me think that more people are going to have a strong emotional reaction to, like, when an ice cream truck came to save the day. So I'm gonna go with ice cream truck in part because, like, part of my relationship with going to get ice cream is that very. And what I am when I want ice cream is thirsty. And ice cream isn't always the best thirst quencher. But when you go to an ice cream truck, they've got stuff like bomb pops and snow cones and popsicles that are more thirst quenching than ice cream is. So I'm gonna go with the ice cream truck.

[B]

All right, Glenn, what would you pick? Ice cream truck or ice cream shop?

[D]

Well, I'm just gonna come out and say what we're all thinking. Ice cream shops smell weird. There, I said it. They smell weird.

[C]

Is it the cleanser?

[D]

No, what it is, it's a very high in the nose kind of sinus y smell. It's the sugar. Yes, it is the freon. Freon smells weird. Big Freon is gonna tell you, oh, we're an odorless guest. They lie. They're not an odorless guest. Also at ice cream shops, you've got all those people who are sampling everything with these little wooden spoons and they're testing, can I have the butter be gone. Can I have this chocolate? It's chocolate. You know what chocolate tastes like, Then they put it back in A little cup at the top of the thing. I hate it. Ice cream tuck. My love of the ice cream truck is based on nostalgia. Because every summer at three o' clock in the afternoon, an ice cream truck would roll up, as you said, Stephen. They come to you would roll up to Wedgwood Swim Club, which sounds a lot fancier than it was. And the swim team would line up and they'd get their bomb pops and their water ices, as we said back then. I would get an ice cream sandwich because nobody else got an ice cream sandwich, which meant that the ice cream sandwiches in the ice cream truck spent all their time in the back, bottom, most, darkest, coldest part of the freezer.

[E]

Oh, sure.

[D]

So that the wafer could got crispy, hard and crispy. So my heart says ice cream truck, but I think people like being obnoxious and holding up the line and deciding with the little wooden spoons. I think people like choice, as Steven mentioned. So I think people are gonna say ice cream shop.

[B]

So you say shop. Aisha, what are you saying?

[E]

Well, as I already said, I worked in an ice cream shop for a couple of summers. Shop with the two peas and a meat.

[D]

Another thing.

[E]

And another thing. So this place actually fun little side note here, it was called Kelly's Cone Connection. And can you guess how she spelled Kelly's Cone Connection?

[C]

Oh, no, she did not.

[B]

Oh, no, no.

[E]

Oh, Kelly. Okay. Yeah. So look, look, she was a sweetheart. And eventually they changed it so that it wasn't all through, but, like, here's a little joke in my town. And it was actually connected to a drive in, like, grill. So, like, in the summer they'd have all the classic car shows and everything. It was very, like, giving us 1950 vibes.

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

But anyway, I have very fond memories of working at that shop with some of my friends and, you know, getting to interact with people. But I agree with Steven that there's just so much nostalgia for ice cream trucks. The music, it just gets stuck in your head and it is like, inside out. The jingle that just won't get, like, 20 years later, you will remember. Now, I am not someone who enjoys hard ice cream, in part because I have sensitive teeth. And so, like, biting into an ice cream sandwich is just gonna. It makes my skin crawl and my teeth hurt. So I was never an ice cream truck kid. I was always like, give me the soft serve. But I think the ice cream truck nostalgia, baby, it almost always wins every time.

[D]

Should I change my vote? Oh, nope, too late. I'm not gonna stick with It.

[B]

All right. I just want to say that I also would go with the ice cream truck, but our listeners went ice cream shop.

[D]

There we go.

[E]

Are you kidding me?

[D]

They like the choice.

[B]

83.7%. 83.7%.

[E]

I don't know our listeners.

[C]

I am out of step.

[B]

All right, this is perhaps especially important here in the east coast, but we asked about two classic summer seafood nibbles, the lobster roll and the crab cake. Which do you think our listeners chose, lobster roll or crab cake? Aisha Harris, which one?

[E]

My family is from Baltimore, so I'm gonna go with crab cake. And I think that listeners went with crab cakes.

[B]

All right, Glenn.

[D]

A lobster roll made with imitation lobster is sad. A crab cake made with imitation crab is just a crab cake. Crab cake.

[B]

All right. Crab cake.

[C]

Interesting. Stephen, I'm gonna have to have my Maryland citizenship revoked. I've lived here for 18 years, but I love a lobster roll, and I cannot pass that up as my choice. All right, it's lobster man.

[B]

Well, Steven, our listeners went with you. Lobster roll came in first with 54.4% of the vote. CR came in second with 45.6%.

[C]

Logically, eggs, both of them are very expensive.

[B]

We are tallying up the score, and I will tell you, we have a tie between Steven and Glenn. You both got four correct. You know, listen, it's all good. We have a tie. Aisha, you got two correct. So everybody was in it. Let's face it. Everybody was in it.

[E]

Thank you for my participation. Sticker.

[B]

No, no.

[C]

No way.

[B]

No way. Everybody did a wonderful job. Glenn Weldon, Aisha Harris, Stephen Thompson, thank you so much for being here to play this game with me.

[C]

Thank you, buddy.

[E]

Thank you.

[B]

This episode is produced by Rommel Wood and Mike Katsiff and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. And hello. Come in. Provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from npr. I'm Linda Holmes, and we'll see you all next time.

[A]

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