Laura B. Weiss is a writer and journalist who has written for numerous print and online publications, including The New York Times, New York Daily News, Edible Brooklyn, Travel & Leisure and FoodNetwork.com. Laura is the author of Ice Cream: A Global History (Reaktion Books/University of Chicago Press), released April 2011.  She was also an editor of Zagat’s Long Island Restaurant Guide 2009-2010 and 2010-11. She was a reporter for CQ Weekly, covering Congress.  She wrote and edited print and online stories for Time Magazine’s school edition. Weiss reports on Manhattan’s Upper West Side food scene for www.foodandthings.com. She is an adjunct professor at NYU’s Carter Institute of Journalism.

Her earliest ice cream memory

“I couldn’t eat dairy products until age three. Summer days were spent standing off to the side as my pals gobbled down treats purchased from the local Good Humor man. I can still remember the day I learned that my doctor had cleared me to eat the forbidden treat. In one corner of my suburban kitchen stood a white fridge with a small freezer on top. My mother pulled out a pint of vanilla. I can vividly recall the way it looked—creamy, light yellow with flecks of vanilla threaded throughout. She gave me a spoonful to taste. I took one bite. I was totally hooked. I had never tasted anything so perfect, so creamy, so delicious. The vanilla shone through and I loved it. (Soon I became a chocolate fan.) Now, when the Good Humor man would round the block and ring his bell, I’d dash down the street with the other kids and devour that treasured ice cream bar.”

A forever-fan of chocolate ice cream (especially soft serve dipped in chocolate), she shares her scoops with husband Randy Weiss.