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words by Carol King If you like vanilla ice cream, it means you are an idealist, reports the Italian Istituto del Gelato (Ice Cream Institute). The institute reported the results of research conducted by the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, USA. The research was commissioned by ice-cream maker Baskin-Robbins that employed the foundation’s founder, neurologist and psychiatrist Dr. Alan Hirsch to decode personality traits from popular ice-cream flavours. Hirsch specialises in the evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of many smell- and taste-related disorders. He has conducted more than 200 studies on sensory phenomena and disorders. Hirsch claims the ice cream people prefer can reveal the kind of person they are. He said of the study: “We uncovered quite a few surprising findings when investigating what a person’s favourite ice-cream flavour says about their personality.” According to Hirsch’s research, a vanilla ice-cream lover is more likely to be impulsive, easily suggestible and an idealist. A fan of chocolate ice cream is more likely to be dramatic, lively, charming, flirtatious, seductive and gullible. A person who opts for strawberry ice cream is more likely to be tolerant, devoted and an introvert. Someone who likes coffee ice cream is more likely to be scrupulous, conscientious and a moral perfectionist.