Alison Brie Reveals The Comfort Food That Takes Her Straight Back To Childhood - Exclusive

Best known for TV shows like "Community," "Mad Men," and "GLOW," Alison Brie is an award-winning actor with a career spanning two decades. She also has a surprising childhood comfort food, at least where ice cream flavors are concerned. We recently caught up with Brie during her promotional tour for HelloFresh's Supper Club, where she shared the food that defined her childhood. 

"I want to say mint chip ice cream," the star told us, also noting that many people's idea of comfort food is "a warm meal." Brie said that she ate a lot of mint chocolate chip as a kid and ultimately admitted, "It still would unequivocally be my favorite flavor of ice cream." In this house, we love Alison "Annie Edison" Brie and mint chocolate chip ice cream, but we know perceptions on the latter are a bit controversial. This ice cream flavor is famously derided, with some people likening the frosty dessert's flavor and pastel green hue to toothpaste. As for fans of the treat, they highlight the cool, refreshing vibe the mint brings to rich ice cream, while the chocolate chips add another layer of flavor. 

While the concept of mint chocolate dates back to the 16th century, when Europeans combined newly imported cocoa beans with mint to dial back the bitterness, mint chocolate chip ice cream is a more recent invention. Famed ice cream purveyor Baskin-Robbins has offered mint chocolate chip since 1945, but the flavor is also attributed to Marilyn Ricketts, a British culinary student who created Mint Royale ice cream in 1973, in honor of a royal wedding.

Murky as its origins may be, Alison Brie distinctly recalls where she used to enjoy her favorite childhood treat. "That kind [of mint chocolate chip] that you would get from like a Thrifty's ... from the corner store." Brie is referring to the now-defunct Thrifty Drug Store chain, which had locations in her home turf of Los Angeles (Thrifty still sells its own brand of ice cream). 

The actor also insists that mint chocolate chip ice cream should look a certain way, stating, "It's got to have the food color in it. I don't want white." Combining mint extract with ice cream doesn't evoke a vibrant green color; artificial food dyes are responsible for that. Bad news for Brie — many major ice cream brands are slated to remove artificial food dyes by 2028. This is in addition to the five food dyes already banned in the U.S., including Green 1 and Green 2, which were outlawed in the 1960s.