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Last weekend, Reese Witherspoon inadvertently caused a bit of a stir when she posted a TikTok of herself making a snowy drink out of snow, cold brew, caramel, and chocolate syrup that she dubbed a “salted snowy cappuccino.” People quickly started blowing up the comments, saying that eating snow was “dirty.” It was a silly, unnecessary controversy, but Reese leaned in and made several response videos anyway. Turns out that Reese isn’t the only celeb who likes eating snow, though. On the Today show, hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager decided to chime in, lending their support to #TeamReese. Both Hoda and Jenna were bewildered at the whole debate and shared their own personal experiences with making snowy concoctions. As long as it wasn’t yellow, it was good enough for Jenna and Hoda.
“This is a whole thing, and we don’t understand it, but it’s a thing,” Hoda began. “So then the internet was mad because don’t eat snow? Because it must fall through pollution? I don’t know.”
“We’ve been eating snow, and we would eat it like three days later, too,” Jenna added. “We tried to make sure it wasn’t yellow. But if it was white, we were going for it!”
That wasn’t all Hoda and Jenna had to say about Reese’s latest concoction. As the two further explained, they make something very similar… and there’s a family connection to it too.
“Here’s what we did — and you, I think, introduced me to this concept,” Hoda continued. “When the snow falls, we get cups, we fill it up. We take half-and-half or heavy cream, we add some sugar or sweetener, mix it up and it’s called snow ice cream.”
“Yes! That was what my mom did when it snowed once a year in Texas,” Jenna concluded. “That was her recipe that we passed down!”
Upon hearing Hoda and Jenna were all for Reese making more “snow salt Chococcinos,” fans went to social media to voice their agreement on the concept.
“I still eat freshly fallen snow I have done it since I was a kid,” one person wrote on Instagram. “Snow cream is the best. Made it for my kids and the whole neighborhood every year,” another agreed. “I’m with Reese!! Yum! ❤️,” a different follower added.
Nonetheless, there were still some concerned about eating freshly fallen snow off the ground. “Snow is filthy please don’t do this,” one person begged. “Disgusting… all the chemicals and exhaust fumes on [your] car 😂😂,” another replied. “Nope,” a different fan simply remarked.
For the record, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent says to avoid eating snow if you’re stranded somewhere because it can lower your body temperature, but doesn’t mention any other snow eating guidelines. That being said, if you’re going to eat it, clean snow is the only option. And only in moderation.
Even though there were still some naysayers, Today’s viewers seem way more chill than Reese’s TikTok followers. But I think it’s kinda crazy just how polarizing this topic is! Is this the January 2024 version of the Great Celebrity Shower Debate?! Like I said the other day, eating snow is not a hill I’m willing to die on but as long as you’re eating fresh, white snow, I really don’t think it’s a big deal. Does it fall through the dirty atmosphere? Sure, but almost nothing we ingest is completely clean and we do those things anyway. Some of the recommendations out there include putting a bowl out to catch the snow you want to use for snow cream, etc. That makes a lot of sense to me. Anyway, I totally tasted snow as a kid, but we never made cool things out of it, so it never became any sort of tradition for me. I sorta feel left out now. I cannot believe this, but I’m totally about to do a Pinterest search for the best snow recipes.
Photos credit Getty and via Instagram and TikTok
The kitten in our house thinks snow is food and he can’t get enough of it
So does the eccentric, elder dog I dogsit. He tries to eat his way across the snow covered backyard. I’m sure in his mind he thinks the lawn is covered in the biggest pup cup miracle and just can’t figure out why it doesn’t taste like the ones he gets at the drive thru. So he keeps licking in eternal hope.
Jenna Bush seems like an idiot, can’t stand her Aren’t I so cute routine.
Phew! Thought I was the only one who felt this way. 😹
It’s late at night and nobody will see this but geez I totally completely without any doubt wholeheartedly agree that Jenna is an absolute moron.
I (born in 1973) grew up in Tyrolia/Austria and up to this day it’s absolutely normal for me to eat snow.
Snow = frozen water. So, what’s so bad about water? Of course, you have to make sure that the snow is clean and that no dog or person has left “yellow tracks”. But apart from that, I don’t understand the fuss.
Fellow Austrian and childhood snow eater here 😉
I sure took bites of snow here and there when playing outside in winter. Not sure my parents would’ve condoned it (then again, I don’t know), so I reserved the snacking for moments when nobody was looking.
Yet people eat processed food and at McDonald’s. Everyone gets so riled up these days.
I don’t know this is a thing. The snow is probably healthier than the air and a million other things.
Hello from Canada, the land where the majority of the population has eaten snow for a large portion of their childhood and survived.
Not sure what people’s freak out about it is. Just make sure it’s clean.
People are worried about eating clean and that snow comes through the dirty atmosphere (hello rain….) but apparently have no idea that their food is sprayed with s**t to make it grow.
Hilarious. Yes, it’s odd. A bit like the outcry here in the UK when KFC started to do adverts featuring real chickens. People didn’t like to see the live product behind their crappy food. The adverts were stopped.
This is strange. The reaction seems so out of kilter with such a little event!! I know that in a true survival situation snow should be melted over a stove to drink and not eaten because cold things take a lot out of the body to heat up. Bit like eating an icecream on a hot day doesn’t really cool people down and they should opt for a cup of tea instead. But this was hardly a woman lost up a mountain, just someone who ate some snow.