The Reason Chick-Fil-A Calls Its Ice Cream Menu Item 'Icedream'

Biting into a cone of Chick-fil-A's Icedream is like biting into a cloud. There's a reason for that: You're eating foam. Culinary foam may be a trend among the Michelin-starred restaurant set, but Americans have been eating air for centuries. All ice cream is technically foam, but some types are foamier than others. Some are so foamy they don't count as ice cream at all. 

Standard ice cream is made from a mixture of milk, cream, sugar, and sometimes egg. Ice cream machines churn air into the mixture to give it a lighter texture. The air is called overrun, and, according to ice cream snobs, the less the better. 

Legally, you can't call just anything ice cream. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ice cream should weigh at least 4.5 pounds to the gallon and have a certain percentage of milk solids and milkfat. Anything less is not considered ice cream. These not-technically-ice-creams are often called "frozen dairy desserts."

Soft serve tends to contain more overrun than standard scoops, and all that air means there isn't much room left for fat or milk solids. Which is to say, most soft serve isn't legally ice cream. Chick-fil-A's Icedream desserts — which include shakes and floats along with standard cups and cones — do contain milk and milkfat. We can't say for sure whether Icedream counts as ice cream or not without knowing the exact ratios, but it's likely the words "ice cream" are missing from the chain's ad copy for a reason.

Snobs aren't always right, believe it or not: The public knows what it likes. According to Chick-fil-A's website, founder S. Truett Cathy "was looking for a dessert that fit his high standards for quality and flavor, but with a unique texture — something lighter and more refreshing than traditional ice cream."

Cathy isn't the only one who prefers "frozen dairy desserts." For instance, Breyer's introduced more non-ice-cream ice cream after market research found that customers liked the texture. The fact that air is cheaper than dairy fat probably helped the decision, too.

There is one big difference between ice cream and frozen dairy desserts. Fat helps hold ice cream together, so traditional ice cream needs few ingredients. Soft serve (with its low fat content) needs additives and emulsifiers. Otherwise, it would melt in your hand. That's why you'll find ingredients like carrageenan, diglycerides, and beta carotene in Icedream, while a carton of vanilla Häagen-Dazs contains nothing but cream, milk, sugar, egg, and vanilla.

Additives aside, there's an undeniable appeal to a soft serve cone. Stick to the premium stuff if you prefer your ice cream au natural, but feel free to order an Icedream if it suits your fancy. Just know that you'll be getting less dairy — and more additives — for your money.