SLOT MACHINE FOR ICE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 72, Issue 6240, 10 June 1946, Page 6

SLOT MACHINE FOR ICE

AMERICAN INNOVATION AN ICE-CONSCIOUS NATION The writer of the following article is an Aucklander who married Mr Larry Dysart, announcer at IZM during the time it was under American control. She now lives in Beverly Hills, California. Can New Zealanders imagine a slot machine for ice ? I had seen slot machines for cigarettes, peanuts, chewing gum and candy, but when I saw a woman here in California place a coin in a slot and a few seconds later walk off with a parcel of ice under her arm, I just goggled! The other day as I was sitting outside soaking up the lovely California sunshine . . . no, it is not overrated, we have days and days of it ... I heard such a pleasant sound. It seemed to me like one of those oldi fashioned music boxes, a sweet, tinkI ling musical sound. I stood up and looked down the street, and there, driving very slowly, was an ice cream van.

At first I could not believe my ears, but sure enough as it came closer, I realised that the sounds were emanating from the van. It was the means employed by the vendor to let people know he was close by, and ready to sell his wares. It wasn’t long before women came from their houses to buy a pint or a quart of ice cream, probably to be used as a dessert for the evening meal. I have been impressed by the freshly frozen vegetables you can buy here, already washed and packed in cartons. They are deliciously fresh, and taste as good as vegetables straight from your garden.

Americans are so ice conscious. Every home has either an electric refrigerator or an ice box. One sees ice everywhere as a means of keeping food fresh, and, of course, the average American likes some of his foods chilled and icy to the taste. At Earl Carroll’s the other evening, appetisers were served to us in large buckets of crushed ice.

At a table of four, the buckets occupied the whole of the spate on the table. The top of the bucket came to just below your chin, and you felt you had to peei< over the top to carry on a conversation with your dinner partner ... so much ice for so small a course ... a typical Hollywood production! And then there is the artistic chef whose hobby is ice-sculpturing. It is quite usual to see a large ice turkey or peacock, or some other work of his art, reposing in the middle of a table of good things to eat. I don’t know how they stop them from melting and running ail over the place, but apparently there is some way, because they stay whole for so long.