The first recorded mention of ice cream was on the menu of a feast given in 1671 by King Charles II. The banquet was held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Charles’ ascendancy to the British throne. The flavor remains unknown, but the dessert was exclusive to the King’s table and served with “one plate of white strawberries”.
The new treat quickly took off. Eating ice cream not only demonstrated very high social status, but flavors themselves were a means to show off. From cucumber to carnation, sherry to daffodil (even though daffodil is poisonous), the more outlandish the flavor, the more it was valued by aristocrats.
Fast-forward 150 years to the 1850s, and ice cream had become available to the masses, albeit in a very different way than we know today. Italian immigrants who came to the United Kingdom to escape the Napoleonic Wars and poor economic conditions created The Penny Lick. Street vendors would sell a small glass of ice cream for a penny to crowds of joyous customers. This light-hearted contraption ended up having deadly consequences.
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