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Well, since I can't eat sugar ice creams any more, it's all about the politics for me. I still haven't forgiven Pillsbury/Haagen Dazs for declaring war on little ol' Ben & Jerrys. I also like weird ice cream, so flavors like Phish Food and Chunky Monkey charmed me.

Hmm, I'll have to experiment with my Bamix, some cream, and some xylitol. Mango Chutney/Pecan, anybody? Avocado?

I love Haagen-Dazs's Caramel Cone ice cream! It's like tasting a sundae cone in an ice cream!

Well after reading everyone's comments- Im going to have to agree that its def based on where you are in your life and what your taste buds are craving.
Honestly- when I was a child- I hated Haagen Dazs. I found it too bland- no spice! no chucks! just....ice cream. Now- I love it. I love that creamy, fattiness that is haagen Dazs
But- Im also a college student. And we young people LOVE chucks in our ice cream. After a night of "fun" - you want super double chucky brownie whatever- basically everything in your mouth at once.
I whole heartingly agree that B&J is the ice cream one eats alone, at a girls night, or after a night of drinking while H.D is very much one to savor

BUT- The BEST ice cream I have ever had came from France, in the northern parts, around Rouen. I could see the cows sleeping off in the distance- I knew it was fresh. And nothing, nothing- can beat freshness.

Haagen Dazs strawberry- lovely
B&J Dublin Mudslide- please, the taste of Baileys with brownie and fudge swirl......beautiful
Although, in the end, its all ice cream therefore all good to me

I used love the simple HD flavors and savor it in small bits, never more than a few spoonfulls at a sitting. Almost everyone I know loves Cherry Garcia though and I can't stand it.

Now I just make my own that I like just as much.

just because i have such a blast at the factory - i'll have to go with ben & jerrys.

When I used to make a habit of eating a pint of B&J's at a time, it was always "Urban Jumble" (an almond/chocolate/coconut confection which has since been discontinued). Back then, something about HD didn't appeal to me.

Like most people posting, I like HD now for its purer flavor and texture -- but don't count me out of a pint of NY Super Fudge Chunk from B&J's in a pinch!

By the way, HD pomegranate chocolate chip is outrageous. I also tried the coconut sesame ginger concoction (another "premium flavor"), but was less-than-impressed.

Dominic
the zen kitchen

I love both, although I tend to avoid the more complicated Ben & Jerry flavors and go for Peanut Butter Cup or something with a cohesive theme. I also really like Tortoise Soup, because, mmm, cashews. I'm a New Englander at heart, always will be.

But Haagen Dazs has recently won my heart with Sticky Toffee Pudding. I never had the actual dessert until I moved to Canada, and then a year later it is made into an ice cream? um...Thank You.

Haagen-Dazs---I have never been disappointed in their flavors & creaminess. I wish I lived in an area that sold their new premium flavors.

Has anybody tried the new H-D premium flavor, pomegranite choc chip? It's beyond ice cream!

Haagen-Dazs. B&J's is great, but their flavors can be kind of overwhelming. I love the simple, pure flavors - H-D's rum raisin, I just can't stand how good it is!

The fate of Frusen Gladje: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frusen_Gladje

@NYminknit--I guess we're of the same generation: I, too, remember Fruzen Gladje, though I have no better sense of whether my remembered spelling matches the actual than you did. It was the first competitor to Haagen-Dazs that I recall, but I guess it didn't stand up to Haagen-Dazs's strongarming as well as Ben & Jerry's does.

My personal preference is for small boutique ice-cream shops (I'm looking at YOU, Dr. Mike's in Bethel CT!), but I confess that when it comes to sheer quotidian pleasure, I go for Ben & Jerry's every time. For years I was devoted to Cherry Garcia, but I've recently become enamored of Everything But The... which has the nature that appears to offend so many posters here: there's more stuff in it than there is ice cream. I don't care. English Toffee pieces AND Peanut Butter Cups?? Where do I sign!

But I agree that, when I just need a plain vanilla to set off something distinctive, I'll go with Haagen-Dazs. I don't actually like their flavors like Dulce de Leche, though, which is too sweet.

I've had peaches from the south (pretty formidable as they have the heat) and midwest and California and Oregon. My very own humble opinion is that it is very much a weather thing. I've had them from the same sources, same you pick trees and in different years the taste is radically different.
The best peaches ever were from neglected trees, dead ripe and available, free for the picking in ....Arcata CA....where it is normally foggy all summer, but they had a clear and bit warmer summer and the peaches were divine. I think the north west area has had perfect weather for prime peaches this year......sooon.