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Naxos, Apiranthos "Today we have ice cream"

Astypalea

How long have the Greeks had a love affair with ice cream? How about since at least one hundred years before Alexander the Great?

In fact, ancient Greeks were attracted to “ices” as early as the fifth century BC.

In those years, ices were actually honey and fruit-flavored snow, and they were wildly popular among Greeks in Athens’ central market, spreading quickly throughout the Aegean world.

Alexander the Great, born in 356 BC, reportedly ate his share of ices while growing up as the son of the king of Macedon, Philip II. According to legends which have survived to this day, his favorite ice was flavored with honey and nectar.

A Greek immigrant named Andreas Aristidou, singlehandedly brought ice cream to Colombia in the 1930’s — and since then, three generation of Greeks have expanded the business to become the ice cream kings of this Latin American country.

Based in the coastal city of Barranquilla, in north Colombia on the shores of the Caribbean, “Heladeria Americana” has become a bit of an ice-cream empire, with six, soon to become seven, outlets in the city.

I’ve been speaking with a friend on Sifnos this morning. “How is it there these days?” I asked. It’s early days in the reopening of the country to tourism and I’ve naturally been wondering.

“Quiet, relaxing,” was his answer. “Hardly any non-Greeks about.”

So the guy I wrote about in the excerpt below from my book, I guess, is not there now. Pity. Normally I take pains not to make fun of other people, and at this terrible time in world history that seems more important to me now than ever. But this man, well …

A Greek immigrant named Andreas Aristidou, singlehandedly brought ice cream to Colombia in the 1930’s — and since then, three generation of Greeks have expanded the business to become the ice cream kings of this Latin American country.

Based in the coastal city of Barranquilla, in north Colombia on the shores of the Caribbean, “Heladeria Americana” has become a bit of an ice-cream empire, with six, soon to become seven, outlets in the city.

Antonis Mandralis-Aristidou, the general manager of the ice cream empire, was born in Colombia but grew up in Greece, which he loves. Speaking to the Greek Reporter, he says he is proud to continue the business founded by his grandfather.

Andreas Aristidou founded Heladeria Americana in Barranquilla in 1936. “Heladeria Americana was founded in 1936 by my granddad, a Greek immigrant from the Peloponnese. It was a time of great opportunity and growth for Colombia. He brought the idea of ice cream, sweets and generally speaking the idea of “dining,” in Barranquilla.”

Crete. Chania