Ice cream brand’s co-founders make the pitch for the man who has been their mayor, their representative, their senator and now their choice for president

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

“We’re in Cedar Falls. No, wait – Where are we?”

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Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, called out to his driver, a staffer with the Bernie Sanders’ campaign. He got back on the phone.

“Iowa Falls. We’re in Iowa Falls. Jerry’s here too. We’re heading to Ames next.”



It’s been a dizzying few days for America’s most famous ice cream makers as they hit the road in Iowa for the man who has been their mayor, their representative, their senator and now their choice for president: Bernie Sanders.

On the road somewhere in central Iowa, they let the Guardian sample their pitch.



“We’ve been his constituents for over 30 years,” Cohen said. “We’ve seen the way he governs. We’ve seen his tremendous consistency on the issues. Where he’s coming from is a place of real internal passion about economic inequality. He’s a politician that comes along once in a generation.”

Jerry Greenfield, the other half of the Vermont-based ice cream partnership, chimed in: “Ben has said, if Bernie wasn’t so committed and so passionate, you might find him boring because he does not hop around from issue to issue.

Bernie is so genuine and so different from other candidates. He is certainly not your politics-as-usual politician Jerry Greenfield

“But Bernie is so genuine and so different from other candidates. He is certainly not your politics-as-usual politician.”



Cohen and Greenfield are part of an eclectic cast of characters who have hit the campaign trail in Iowa to support Sanders – who stood three points behind Hillary Clinton in Saturday night’s final Des Moines Register poll – in the final days before the Iowa caucuses.

On Saturday night in Iowa City, academic Cornel West spoke and then introduced the vocalist and drummer for the New England rock band Vampire Weekend, who performed an acoustic version of Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa. The actor Josh Hutcherson (Peeta in the Hunger Games) also gave remarks before bringing out members of the indie pop band Foster the People.

Over the weekend, Sanders was also scheduled to be joined by two US representatives, Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Keith Ellison of Minnesota. Earlier in the week, actors Susan Sarandon and Gabby Hoffman made their pitch to voters. Sanders was also helped by comedians the Lucas Brothers, actor Connor Paolo (Serena’s brother on Gossip Girl) and Jill Sobule, who wrote the generational anthem, Supermodel, which was featured in the film Clueless.

With the race so close, every vote counts. The Sanders’ campaign, which is relying heavily on young voters, is hoping a last burst of energy from celebrities, entertainers and musicians will do the trick.



Away from the campaign trail, Cohen is generating excitement with an ice cream flavor dedicated to Bernie Sanders.

“It took me a long time to come up with one that would be worthy of Bernie,” Cohen said.

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After some thought, Cohen settled on “Bernie’s Yearning”, filed under the brand “Ben’s Best”. (The ice cream flavor is Cohen’s own creation, and is not connected to Ben & Jerry’s brand, which was sold to Unilever a decade ago.)

The carton features a smiling Bernie Sanders with the White House behind him and the tagline: “Vermont’s Finest Senator”. The blurb at the bottom promises: “Political revolution inside”.

Inside the carton is a large slab of chocolate that Cohen said “represents the huge majority of wealth created since the end of the recession that’s gone to the top 1% of our country”. Underneath the disc is mint ice cream yearning for some chocolate chips.

But doesn’t that make wealth inequality sound kind of … good? Cohen let out an affable chuckle.

“The way you eat it is you take a large soup soon and you whack it. You whack that disc of chocolate into a lot of little pieces. As the ice cream melts you mush it around and mix it up,” Cohen said.

“And there you have it: Bernie’s Yearning.”