Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Slurpee at 40

Posted by Zonk on from the venerable-drink dept.

theodp writes "Oh Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven! Slate reports on the 40th birthday of the Slurpee, which has frozen an estimated 6 billion brains and arguably provided the inspiration for Starbucks' Frappuccino, Dunkin' Donuts' Coolatta and Kwik-E-Mart's Squishee. Wikipedia has more Slurpee facts and links."

2 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Granita! by DavidNWelton · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No no no... the original and still the best is the "granita":

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_ice

    which comes from Sicily. They are made with real fruit, and are absolutely delicious. I made a point of having at least one a day during a recent vacation in Sicily.

    http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granita

    --
    http://www.welton.it/davidw/
  2. ICEEs are older, better, and help you get girls by AngryNick · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Where I grew up, they were called ICEEs (say Ice-E) even at the 7-11. Anyone who called it a Slurpee was a pansy.

    The ICEE has been around more than 45 years and the first ICEE machine was sold in 1960. The Kansas City Starhas a good history on the Frizz/ICEE/Slurpee and its inventor, Omar Knedlik:

    ..."A pre-mix of most any flavor is placed inside the machine. There it is put under pressure. Any liquid increases in density when pressurized. Release of the pressure causes it to freeze. So when the liquid pours from the machine it freezes as it hits the cup."

    I suspect someone at 7-11 HQ has been screwing around with the settings, because a Slurpee is more liquidy than a ICEE. This appears to allow for faster consumption, which results in more brain freezing, which provides for a less enjoyable experience.

    As far as helping you hookup, the official ICEE cup is predominately blue and red. Time and again science has proven that women are attracted to blue and men are attracted to pink and red. Combine the higher brain freeze rate of the Slurpee and there's no lovin' tonight for Johnny.

    So there. Now stop calling it Slurpee! It's ICEE! It's pissing me off.

    --
    Today's anger level: Yellow - Irritated for no reason