Why is the Sorbetes Called Dirty Ice Cream? In my second Facebook account, I was asked by a Fil-American friend a simple question that I frankly and remarkably had no credible answer for: “Why is Filipino street-peddled ice cream called dirty ice cream?” The friend crossed over to the other side of the Pacific about half a century ago; and thus the question, trite as it may sound, was perfectly legitimate. Back in the day, we just said ‘sorbetes.’ If I am being honest, I did not really know the answer; and I still don’t. But after a quick scratch of the back of my head with a hooked pointer finger, I hastily invented a plausible enough sounding theorem. Sorbetes manufacturing, I said, is something of a backyard industry; and sanitation standards are not always acceptable. I almost added ‘churva’ but then realised he probably would not understand the meaning of that contemporary word. “ For all we know, the term just came from uppity mothers who admonished their children not to buy from the sorbetero because