Ice Cream

“The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a star”, the noted gourmet Brillat-Savarin once wrote. If that’s so, the discovery of ice cream must be worth a whole galaxy. And the name of the discoverer should be emblazoned in the heavens. The trouble is, we don’t know who made that first dish of vanilla, strawberry or triple chocolate ice cream. That may explain why there are candidates for the honour all over the world. Some give the ancient Romans credit for inventing ice cream, but although they did send their slaves off to the mountains to get snow, they didn’t make ice cream with it. They poured syrup on it and ate it, or they used it to chill their wines or fruit. The most important thing to remember is that this is ice cream. It’s not life or death. If you use five eggs instead of six, or forget to add the almond extract, or don’t freeze your tub long enough, the world will still turn. And the ice cream will, in all probability, still taste great.

Author Biography

Jeri Quinzio is a freelance writer and past president of the Culinary Historians of Boston.