Ground Provisions: Ben & Jerry’s Bob Marley-Inspired Ice Cream

Ben & Jerry’s is known for its Woodstock-inspired peace-and-love aesthetic, and ice cream flavors with goofy names occasionally inspired by peace-and-love minded musicians. (See the classic Cherry Garcia, and the more recent Phish Food). So it’s no surprise that the brand would introduce a flavor inspired by the music (or at least the concept) of Bob Marley.

After holding a contest to name the flavor, Ben & Jerry’s newest product (a tie-in with the 30th anniversary of Legend) has been dubbed Satisfy My Bowl, after “Satisfy My Soul,” the classic track from Marley’s 1978 album Kaya. Makes sense. What we’re a bit confused about is what the flavor—banana ice cream with caramel and cookie swirls and chocolate peace signs—has to do with Bob Marley or Jamaica. Sure, bananas grow in Jamaica, as they do across the Caribbean, but the fruit is not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when anyone thinks Jamaica. (As far as we know, Marley’s ice cream preferences are undocumented, that is if he partook in the treat at all).

If we were Ben, Jerry, or whoever decides such things, we probably would have gone with a more explicitly Jamaican fruit like soursop–perhaps in a dairy-free sorbet for maximum livity. Grape nut, a flavor whose popularity in Jamaica as is rivaled only in Ben & Jerry’s native New England (but which is sorely missing from ice cream shops and freezer aisles everywhere else) might have been a good fit. In fact, we have a whole gang of ice-cream flavor ideas for Ben & Jerry’s (and ice-cream lovers in general) to consider. Stay tuned…