system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How did chocolate, vanilla and strawberry become the "standard" icecream flavors?

By standard, I don't mean best flavors, but the most widely available flavors. Is there a historical reason?
gpt
the flavors are very robust and easy to extract. 

the easy comparisons are pear and banana. pear juice (also apple) is used as filler in many drinks specifically because other tastes over power it. 

bananas on the other hand, have a very strong flavor but separating the the essence from the pulp is difficult. this is why natural banana icecream tends to have the consistency of concrete. 

vanilla flavor comes from simply soaking the bean in alcohol. chocolate is a ground up bean. strawberries are obviously a watery fruit. you'll notice the pattern generally holds for other candies as well.

although today we have the technology to do basically whatever we want, icecream is also a milk product and dependent on aeration. many high-acidity fruits (oranges) would risk curdling the milk. mint is notable for destroying the property of dairy that allows it to form air bubbles.

these various factors made a lot of types of icecream unviable for long enough that the 3 primary flavors have simply become too well established.