National Ice Cream Sandwich Day
Today is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day, and that gave me a good reason to revisit one of my favorite food photographs from last year.
The ice cream sandwich has been around for more than a century. Early versions were sold by New York City street vendors for just a penny, making them one of the first frozen treats that almost anyone could afford. More than a hundred years later, the recipe is still remarkably simple. Vanilla ice cream between two soft chocolate wafers. Sometimes the best ideas don’t need to be reinvented.
For this photograph, I bought a whole box instead of just one. Stacked together against my very black black background, they stopped looking like something from the grocery store freezer and became a study in repetition, texture, and contrast. The chocolate wafers, bright white ice cream, and imperfect edges created exactly the kind of photograph I was hoping for.
One of the things I enjoy most about food photography is finding subjects that people see every day and presenting them in a way they probably haven’t seen before. The ice cream sandwich isn’t rare, expensive, or complicated. It’s simply an American classic that deserved a few minutes in front of the camera.
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Forget The Standard Ice Cream Sandwich
For National Ice Cream Sandwich Day, I went with something a little different—a Jewish Deli Ice Cream Sandwich. Vanilla ice cream layered between slices of rye bread, topped with yellow mustard, and plated with pickles.
It’s everything you didn’t know you wanted in a dessert: carbs, condiments, and a deli‑counter sense of confidence. Forget the cookies—this is a sandwich your grandmother might serve if she’d finally given up on tradition and decided dessert should also pair well with pastrami.
Yes, I thought this one up myself. I didn’t want to just photograph more ice cream sandwiches. I’ve been reading about the history of Jewish delis and photographing deli food, and one thing led to another. And if you’re curious, I did try it—and it tasted outstanding!
This photo is part of my commercial food photography—where I sometimes explore the less obvious corners of culinary “artistry.” See more here:
https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000WFAqDJQOgKU
Memorial Day, 1934: Meltdown Created Carvel
It was Memorial Day weekend, 1934, when Tom Carvel’s ice cream truck got a flat tire in Hartsdale, New York. He pulled into a parking lot and started selling his melting ice cream to passing drivers. What could have been a loss turned into a breakthrough—customers liked the softer texture, and the concept of soft-serve was born.
That moment sparked the launch of the Carvel brand. By 1936, Carvel opened a permanent roadside stand on that same site and began developing his own equipment and franchise model. He pioneered innovations in frozen desserts and advertising—including early television commercials and animated mascots.
In the 1950s, Carvel introduced the now-iconic round ice cream cake—layered with vanilla and chocolate soft-serve, filled with chocolate crunchies, and topped with piped whipped frosting and sprinkles. It quickly became a fixture at birthdays, holidays, and family celebrations.
Photographed here as served—no props, no styling—just the cake, isolated on a black background. It’s part of my “From Bag to Background” series, and a fitting nod to an accidental origin that took place on Memorial Day nearly a century ago.
See more from the series:
https://www.secondfocus.com/index/G0000wQ3fbeEezF0/I0000nUG8tfk8Gdc
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