Oatmeal Cookie Chunk:
December 1, 2016
Their First Love
If there’s one thing our fans love to talk about more than anything else, it’s their favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavors from yesteryear. Their first Ben & Jerry’s love. Their longest-enduring flavor affair. The one that got away.
Of all the flavors dancing through fans’ happiest Ben & Jerry’s memories, there’s one that we hear about more than any other: Oatmeal Cookie Chunk. Sweet cream cinnamon ice cream. Oatmeal cookie chunks. Fudge chunks. For the lover of oatmeal cookies and ice cream, it was an unparalleled euphoria.
The Life and Times of Oatmeal Cookie Chunk
Oatmeal Cookie Chunk graced freezer shelves as a Limited Batch flavor for a few months in 2003, and then as a full-fledged member of the flavor team from 2004 to 2012.
Why did we discontinue a flavor with such a strong fan following, you ask? This was because of our exacting ice cream standards. When the supplier who made our oatmeal cookies stopped making the scrumptious chunks, we searched high and low for a suitable replacement. But, alas, no luck. No other cookie-maker could match the excellence of the original. So, rather than inflict a sub-par cookie on our fans (and trust us, none of our cookies are sub-par), we decided that sending the flavor to the Flavor Graveyard would be the most humane option. Today, you can pay your respects to Oatmeal Cookie Chunk at our Flavor Graveyard in Waterbury, Vermont.
Requiem for a Flavor Legend
Since then, we’ve heard almost daily from fans about their love of Oatmeal Cookie Chunk. When the Huffington Post ran a tournament-style death match, pitting eight discontinued Ben & Jerry’s flavors against one another, fans overwhelmingly voted for Oatmeal Cookie Chunk as the one they wish would return.
We even believe that we have found the world’s biggest Oatmeal Cookie Chunk fan: Austin Dent, an MBA student and the brains behind a Facebook fan page for the flavor. And he’s taking his passion for Oatmeal Cookie Chunk all the way to the top:
“I am honored to be called the #1 Oatmeal Cookie Chunk fan,” he says. Dent even has a couple of pints of his favorite flavor stashed away at an undisclosed location, waiting for a very special occasion: his wedding day. Are they the last of their kind? Quite possibly. Will they make the happiest day of his life reach even higher levels of euphoria? Indubitably.
Of the supply problem that led to the downfall of Oatmeal Cookie Chunk, Dent says, “Finally knowing it was a supplier issue gives me a sense of closure. It was hard to accept that there just wasn't enough demand for something so glorious. I’m currently getting my MBA and concentrating in supply chain management, so it is motivating to know that problems like the ones Oatmeal Cookie Chunk faced could be fixed in my profession.” We’re pretty sure he’ll be a supply-chain superhero someday, saving his favorite desserts left and right.
For now, we salute you, Oatmeal Cookie Chunk, for the cinnamon-infused joy and comfort you spread to all who opened your lid. May you rest in peace in the Flavor Graveyard beneath these humble words:
From the moment that this oatmeal went
There’s been no end to fans’ lament.
If you’d “sowed more oats” before the reap
We wouldn’t have buried it quite so deep.
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