In many parts of the world, it's been a hotter season than usual. That's definitely the case in Northeast Asia, where people in South Korea and Japan make different choices when it comes to what to eat in hot weather.
Most of South Korea started off the work week under a heat wave alert, while for the first time this summer, several locations in Japan cracked 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
In both countries, a day in July is traditionally recognized as the hottest day of the summer — marked with different foods.
In Japan, it's eel. In South Korea, it's a hot steaming bowl of chicken and ginseng soup.
But in both places, ice cream is growing — for consumers and as an export.
South Korea's latest available figures come from last year when ice cream exports were up about 20% to nearly $60 million.
Japanese ice cream exports also rose more than 20% that year to about $52 million.
As for ice cream imports, Baskin-Robbins has been in Japan since 1974 and has about 1,200 stores.
Baskin-Robbins has also been in South Korea since the 1970s and there are now more than 1,700 stores in that country.
The Korea Economic Daily reported that it works out to 3.3 stores per 10 million people, which is more than four times the ratio in the United States.
