What's the Difference: Ice Cream and Gelato

What's the difference?

If you research online, you'll typically find the explanations below.

Gelato:

• Tends to be thicker, richer, and coarser due to less air and larger crystals.
• Lower in fat because it contains less cream and more milk. Typically contains 4-8% fat.¹

Matcha Latte flavour from Beku Gelato

Ice Cream:

• Tends to be fluffy and creamy due to more air and smaller ice crystals.²
• Churned faster than gelato, resulting in more air being incorporated and hence feeling more fluffy.
• Higher fat content, typically around 14-16% fat.

Choc fudge flavour from Sundae School Ice Creamery

The difference in terminology is interesting since gelato is simply the Italian word for ice cream. That seems to imply that in Italy gelato denotes a spectrum of textures and fat content, which makes sense. If you visit a gelateria in Italy, you may be served gelato at 5% fat or 15% fat, or perhaps with more air incorporated than what you'd typically expect.

On the other hand, in Australia we appear to make a distinction between gelato and ice cream. This is highlighted by numerous sources describing the difference between the two (as described above) and the fact that many gelateria/ice creameries tend to identify with either gelato or ice cream but not both.

To me, the main difference between the two comes down to texture. Ice cream feels more icey (as the name implies) and gelato has a more creamy / fuller mouthfeel. Although ice cream is often described as fluffy, I find 'fluffy' a strange word to describe it. If the number of stores indicates which one is more popular, Melburnians certainly prefer gelato over ice cream as shown in the data below.

The Data

Using the information available at MarvoBites, below are some interesting stats:

• Bites were labelled as gelato or ice cream based on their name. If the name did not contain either word (e.g. Luther's Scoop or Hareruya Pantry), a quick search online will typically indicate if the place identifies as selling gelato or ice cream.
• There are 80 gelateria in Melbourne, more than twice as many ice creameries (30).
• This stat is somewhat misleading, as there are a number of gelato franchises which are not counted once but counted based on how many branches they have open. For example, there are 6 stores of Piccolina Gelateria and 8 stores of Augustus Gelatery. If we count each of those franchises only once, there are still significantly more gelateria (54) than ice creameries (21).
• Plotting all these Bites on a map, you can see that most of the ice creameries (green markers) are located on the outer suburbs. On the otherhand there's a large concentration of gelateria in high density areas like the CBD.

MarvoBites

On MarvoBites, Bites that specialise in ice cream or gelato are both labelled as 'ice cream'. This is for several reasons:

• Simplicity
• Usage in casual speech. In everyday conversation, I don't think people deliberately distinguish between the two. This is highlighted in an article by Broadsheet, where chefs were asked what was their favourite gelato / ice cream restaurant³. Many of them referenced a gelateria when they said "my favourite ice-cream is…"