Ice cream thoughts

A few random ice cream-related thoughts worth noting:

This weekend we were supposed to make our several kilos of ice cream. However, because of a country-wide farmers' strike, there is no milk to make ice cream with. (There isn't much beef, milk, fruits or veggies in the supermarkets either.) The strike has been going on for a while. For the past week at 8pm each night, the locals who are against the strike have been standing on their balconies and banging their pots and pans in protest. I'm not going to get into details about what exactly the strike is about (the major news outlets have already covered it extensively) but it has pointed out two things. Firstly, that neither side has the moral or political upper hand. The fighting has been getting dirty, with paid protesters digging up dirt and snarling traffic and transport on both ends. Secondly, that it shows the deep divide between the social and economic classes in Argentina. As a broad and ridiculously simplistic explanation, the well-off neighbourhoods tend to oppose the strike, while the poorer neighbourhoods tend to support it. What does this have to do with this blog? No milk = no ice cream class.

"Cuando terminemos con este proyecto infernal hacemos una orgía de helado e invitamos a todos los involucrados para brindar" (Translation: When we finish with this infernal project we're going to have an ice cream orgy and invite everyone involved in the project for a toast.) -- S., book editor on a nightmare project, while editing raw material at 2:58 am on a Saturday morning, three days before the book's slated deadline

Cultural notes:
Banging pots and pans with wooden spoons is a very Latin American form of protest. These are called caserolazos (from the Spanish word cacerola, which means cooking pot).