You scream. I scream.

Ice cream? Bizarre? Let’s take care of the ground rules. Ice cream is a quintessentially frozen dessert treat made with dairy products. You love it. I love it. It takes an average of fifty licks to finish a single scoop of ice cream, unless you are my son, Noah. He’s a three-lick-per-scoop kind of kid. How he does it, I don’t know.

These are the glory days of the American scoop-shop renaissance and chefs love to play around the awesome canvas of an ice-cream base. It’s the perfect vehicle for unusual flavors. Some good, some bad. I want to spare you the pain and agony, please don’t ever eat garlic ice cream. I have eaten the horrible stuff. Like smoke salmon fudge ripple ice cream, it is just wrong. I’ve eaten bacon, prosciutto, foie gras, tobacco, blood, and a gazillion other savory bizarre ice creams and loved them all…but that garlic ice cream, is just awful. So please, consider yourself forewarned.

Illustration by Chuck Gonzales

Brain Freeze

If you’ve ever chugged a slushy or eaten ice cream too fast, you’ve probably experienced a cold-stimulus headache. Commonly known as brain freeze, this painful and annoying headache occurs when cold food touches the roof of one’s mouth, or the palate. The brain sends rapid messages to the head that constrict blood vessels. The brain believes the pain is coming from the nose and forehead, no the roof of the mouth. So, that’s where the ice-cream headache hits you.

How do you stop a brain freeze?

1. Eat slower–this will let your mouth get used to the cold and will not cause a rapid constriction.

2. Press your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Your tongue will warm up your palate and reduce swelling in your blood vessels.

I’ll have to remember to brush my teeth after this! (Photo credit: Travel Channel)

Garlic Breath

When garlic is eaten, its cells are broken down into enzymes that contain sulfur. The enzymes are metabolized and create allyl methyl sulfide. Allyl methyl sulfide cannot be digested, so it is passed through the blood. To get rid of it, the body releases the allyl methyl sulfide through the skin in sweat and through the lungs, which explains why people get such bad garlic breath. They are actually breathing out parts of the garlic.

Bad breath is also known as halitosis. Halitosis can be a symptom of multiple things, but most likely it is a symptom of not brushing and flossing your teeth. When you do not brush your teeth, bacteria grows on the bits of food left in your mouth causing a stench that comes out with every breath.

How do you avoid bad breath? Make sure to brush your teeth after you eat and floss at least once a day. Brush your teeth for two minutes to make sure you get everything (it’s even a good idea to brush your tongue). For more tips on how to properly keep your teeth clean, talk to your dentist.