Originally Posted by gecko

Actually the "premium" American ice-creams (and Haaaaagen-Dasz is one) are also made with only natural ingredients, but the Italian gelato has a more elaborate manufacturing technique (it involves chilling at two different temperatures, for example; I don't remember the details). You can get perfectly good Italian-style gelato, at least here in NY, made by people trained in Italy, although it's not nearly as common as American ice cream, and probably 3/4 of the so-called "gelato" here isn't anything special.

Haagen-Dasz is from the Bronx, a rather homey part of New York. The name was chosen to look vaguely Scandianavian, according to an article I read a while back.