Posted on 01/30/2008 7:25:07 AM PST by Born Conservative
When Kyle Burkhalter gets up in the morning, he goes into the kitchen and fixes himself a nice cup of ice.
The 24-year-old director of research for a Web site chews the ice in the car on his way to work in Atlanta. He downs two or three more cups before lunch. He orders ice from drive-thru windows and dips into the office ice machine. Sometimes, his tongue gets so numb he can barely talk to clients.
Still, he munches on. "It's something that you want to do and you think about doing on a constant basis," he says.
WSJ's Ilan Brat looks at how ice chewing is taking off and also finds himself getting hooked on the strangely addicting cold treat. Ice isn't just for chilling drinks anymore, or for packing fish and treating sprains. It's a hot snack. Some Sonic Drive-In franchises sell it in cups and in bags to go. Ice-machine makers are competing to make the best chewable ice, with names like Chewblet, Nugget Ice and Pearl Ice. One manufacturer calls the ice-loving South the "Chew Belt."
Generally, more ice is sold during the summer, but people who compulsively chew ice do so whether it's hot or cold outside. One Sonic in Texas sold 13 10-pound bags, at $1.49 apiece, in one week this month.
Sales of machines that make easier-to-chew ice jumped about 23%, to 16,673 units in 2006 from 2003, according to data from the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute. Some ice chewers, including country-music star Vince Gill, have had the machines installed in their homes.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Isn’t chewing ice and indication of being under-sexed?
Bad habit to get into...chewing ice will crack your teeth.
—and I thought bottled water was silly—
I'll never forget asking that same question during a college Psych course, and having some really hot babe classmate chime in, "Yes, I heard that, too."
Still kick myself for not following up with her after class. < |:(~
64oz cup of soft ice with a splash of sweet tea is great on a hot summer day in Texas. Sonic and Chicken Express have great ice for savoring.
The obsessive compulsion to chew ice is a well documented mental disability in the pica group of mental health illnesses. It’s medical name is pagophagia.
This is great for those who are going into an Ice Age. Meanwhile they are eating dirt cookies in Haiti.
Yeah, but it’s my kind of crazy!
Does it count if I cover my ice with Captain n’ Coke?
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