FOOD NEWS
The Colonial Origins Of The Term 'Ice Cream'
By Aimee Lamoureux
Ice cream is one of the oldest desserts in the world, dating all the way back to the days of ancient Rome and China. While the frozen treat has been enjoyed for centuries across Europe and Asia, it wasn’t until the dessert was brought to the American colonies that ice cream was given the name it’s known by today.
Prior to colonial times, what we now know as ice cream didn’t have a singular name, with previous iterations being labeled as sherbet and creamed ice. That all changed with Phillip Lenzi’s confectionery shop that began selling ice cream “almost every day” around 1776 in colonial New York (via Taste Cooking).
Lenzi’s was the world’s first ice cream parlor, and it not only helped launch America’s love affair with the dessert, but also helped give them a name to call their favorite new treat. Colonial Americans took to calling the frozen snack “iced cream” before the “d” was eventually dropped, shortening it simply to ice cream.