According to legend, Marco Polo brought the secrets of ice cream with him from the Orient, together with other sundry savories. There is, however, no proof of that, although there is some evidence that the Chinese indulged in iced drinks and desserts, which gives some weight to the Marco Polo theory.

The Chinese did, however, teach Arab traders how to combine syrups and snow, to make an early version of the sherbet. Arab traders proceeded to show Venetians, then Romans, how to make this frozen delight. The Emperor Nero was quite fond of pureed fruit, sweetened with honey, and then mixed with snow--so much so that he had special cold rooms built underneath the imperial residence in order to store snow. In the 1500s, Catherine de Medici brought the concept of the sorbet to the French, who were soon to make a great improvement on it.

As you will have noted, the above are frozen desserts, not ice cream. That invention awaited the development of the custard, then the discovery that freezing it would create a delectable dessert. This notable event occured in 1775 in France, and was shortly followed by the invention of an ice cream machine, which did a much better job of creating a light and fluffy frozen custard than beating by hand could do.

Thomas Jefferson, who imitated Nero in having a special cold room for storing snow, provides us with the first recipe for ice cream found in the United States. Not to be outdone, George Washington invested in one of the ice cream machines.

Until 1851, ice cream (or, more frequently, cream ice) was solely made at home. But an intrepid man from Baltimore, named Jacob Fussell changed all that by opening the first ice cream factory.

Near the turn of the century, the ice cream soda was created, although by who seems to be in question--either James W. Tuff or Robert Green. It does seem to have been done by accident, however--a scoop of ice cream falling in a glass of flavored soda water. At any rate, the drink became a national craze, and many a girl and boy went courting over an ice cream soda. So many, in fact, that many municipalities passes laws forbidding the sale of soda water on Sunday. Quickly afterwards, the 'sundae' was invented--it contained the ice cream, syrup, and whipped cream of the soda, but without the evil influence of soda water. Numerous variations existed.

The next ice cream craze with the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis. Charles Menches was doing a lively business selling scoops of ice cream in dishes, all the way up to the point that he ran out of dishes. Frustrated, but determined to still find a way to make a profit, he lighted upon his friend Ernest Hamwi, who was selling a wafer-like cookie called zalabia (a Syrian treat). The combination proved irrestible.