Defending Vanilla

Last night, on our way home from Baltimore, Mama Wordbones and I somehow began debating whether vanilla is a legitimate flavor. This topic seems to always come up when we are discussing ice cream. She is a big chocolate fan while I can find joy in vanilla.

“Vanilla doesn’t taste like anything,” she insisted.

I beg to differ. Before long I was telling her how I first discovered my love for vanilla when I was first introduced to vanilla coke in the early sixties in Columbia. I’m not talking about the stuff you can buy in a can; I’m talking about an honest to god soda fountain vanilla coke.

Back in those early years of the new town, there was a pharmacy in the Wilde Lake Village Green where the Melting Pot restaurant is now located. When it first opened, the pharmacy also had a small lunch counter and soda fountain in the back called The Eagles Nest. Working behind the counter was a young Dave Thomas who mixed me up my first vanilla coke concoction. Until that time I had never considered a coke to be anything but a coke.

I've been a fan of vanilla ever since.