Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Dear Prudence and Slow Burn. <a href="https://my.slate.com/plus?utm_medium=link&amp;utm_campaign=plus_pod&amp;utm_content=Decoder_Ring&amp;utm_source=show_notes">Sign up now</a> to listen and support our work.Why is the ice cream truck business so bananas? On this episode of Decoder Ring we find out via three seperate stories about the strange world of ice cream trucks—about the first ever ice cream trucks in China, the ongoing ice cream wars of Manhattan, and the life of an ice cream family in Brooklyn.Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. <a href="https://my.slate.com/plus?utm_medium=link&amp;utm_campaign=plus_pod&amp;utm_content=Decoder_Ring&amp;utm_source=show_notes">Sign up</a> now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Bart Simpson Mania

Decoder Ring is the show about cracking cultural mysteries. In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit; examines its history; and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters.

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