ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST?
Every year, on the first Saturday in February, people all over the world eat ice cream for breakfast. This strange tradition began almost 60 years ago in the home of Florence Rappaport, in Rochester, USA. It was the first week of February 1966, and it was very cold. There was a lot of snow on the roads. People could not drive to work, and students could not go to school. It was even too cold to play outside. Florence's children, Joseph and Ruth, complained all the time that they had nothing to do.(lines 1–11)
On Saturday that week, Florence thought of a way to make Joseph and Ruth happy. She gave them ice cream for breakfast. Her children loved having the ice cream and did not complain for the rest of the day. Exactly one year later, on the first Saturday in February 1967, the Rappaport family remembered that special breakfast. They decided to have ice cream for breakfast again. Then they began doing that every year on the first Saturday of February. It became a family tradition.(lines 12–16)
Florence called this special day "Ice Cream for Breakfast Day." When friends of the Rappaport family heard about it, they also began to celebrate the day. Soon newspapers had articles about Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. People all over the world read the articles and learned about the special day.(lines 17–20)
Now stores in some countries sell new flavors of ice cream on this day. Other stores give free ice cream to their customers. But some doctors think this tradition is not a good idea. They explain that ice cream has lots of sugar in it, and too much sugar makes people sick. However, Dr. Jane Gordon, a children's doctor, is not worried. "People should definitely not have ice cream for breakfast every day," she says. "But Ice Cream for Breakfast Day is not a problem because it happens only once a year. Even I enjoy this special day."(lines 21–26)