In the summer heat, having an ice cream is a popular tasty and refreshing treat, and our love for ice cream, whether it’s to enjoy at the seaside or home, is not so different from the intrigue that the Victorians had with the sweet treat. Ice cream was a phenomenon that at first confused many people when served by London street vendors, especially on how to eat such a product and the coldness of the ice cream also caused some alarm as one man described ice cream as a toothache inside their mouth. This article will explore how ice cream became a concern causing transmissions of disease in the late nineteenth century and how the edible wafer cone saved lives on London’s streets.
Amy Chandler explains.
An early 19th century depiction of French noblewomen eating ice cream.
The use of ‘ice cream’ was not strictly groundbreaking in the nineteenth century, as forms of sweet iced products were available as early as the seventeenth century. During the Georgian period, many ice-cream parlours were established and sold a variety of flavours such as “chocolate, pistachio, pineapple, jasmine, artichoke, candied pumpkin, pine nuts, pear and chestnuts”.(1) These parlours were aimed at the wealthy upper and middle classes who had the finances to purchase and frequent these establishments. Ice cream became more widespread and accessible with Agnes Marshall’s recipe book entitled The book of ices, published in 1885. Ice cream became largely accessible through the second half of the nineteenth century with the boom in the ice trade, which made access and prices affordable for the general public.
Ice cream and the London streets
Ice cream soon became a popular item on the streets of Victorian London, with many street vendors selling a wide variety of flavours costing one penny or half a penny, giving the name ‘penny licks’. The glass containers were small, and customers would lick the bowls clean instead of using a spoon. These glass containers were small and could not hold much ice cream and therefore would only take a few mouthfuls before the glass was empty. The penny lick was a small glass bowl with a thick glass stem that gave the illusion that the bowl was deep and filled with much more ice cream than in reality. For some, it may have been disappointing when they realised how little dessert they were given while the ice cream vendor earned more money. The literary phrase ‘penny for your thoughts’ denotes the idea of discussing what is on one’s mind or offering to discuss a troubling subject. In the nineteenth century, the average Victorian would get more than thoughts for a penny when buying these penny lick ice creams as these glass vessels were carriers of disease. These penny licks were also on the thoughts of medical professionals who were outspoken on the unsanitary nature of selling ice cream that caused the transmission of diseases. These bowls were licked clean by the customer and ‘rinsed’ in a bowl of stagnant water full of sewage from the River Thames, and then the vendor would reuse the bowl for the next customer. This process meant that while the glass was sustainable and reusable, it was becoming the cause of disease from the customer’s use to the water used to ‘clean’ the penny lick.
Henry Mayhew, an investigative journalist, interviewed the labourers and working class in a variety of occupations to gain a record and overall image of the working class in the 1840 to 1860s. In one interview, Mayhew spoke to an ice cream vendor where he explained the “many difficulties attending the introduction of ices into street traffic” as the customers had a “confused notion” on how the “ices was to be swallowed”.(2) Due to the confusing way of enjoying an ice cream, the popularity was gradual, and some “enterprising sellers purchased stale ices from the confectioners” to sell on and make a profit.(3) Therefore, even when ice cream caused a stir and confusion, some entrepreneurs saw a way to make a profit. Mayhew’s interview also emphasised the lack of knowledge and skill vendors had with dealing and making ice cream, and some vendors “could only supply water” when offering ice cream”.(4) One vendor was sceptical whether ice cream would take off in the streets because he’d “seen people splutter when they’ve tasted them for the first time” and described the feeling of eating ice cream for the first time as it “got among the teeth and make you feel as if you got tooth-ached all over”.(5) The general public’s reaction to ice cream was mixed with confusion and delight but was slow to take off, but over time became popular with the recipe accessibility and affordable prices.
Ice cream and the spread of disease
Many medical professionals were sceptical about the selling of ice cream due to its risk of disease transmission, for example, an article written by Dr Andrew Wilson published in the Illustrated London News in 1898, highlighted concern for the general public’s health. Wilson notes that “in the interest of public health, we enact laws for the prosecution of the grocer who sells adulterated foods”, but there are no measures in place to control the “power of spreading disease broadcast which the unlicensed and irresponsible ice cream man possess[es]”.(6) Wilson continued to list the reasons why the ice cream vendors should be controlled including that these vendors lived in the “poorest and dirtiest parts of our cities”, ingredients such as milk were “kept in premises the reverse of sanitary” and finally stating that the glasses used to serve ice cream were “licked by every child” and are the “media for conveying disease of serious nature”.(7)
Furthermore, an article published in the Bristol Times and Mirror in 1894 suggested the health risks that ice cream posed, but suggested it was not because of the way it was consumed and sold but the way the product was made and stored. The press suggested that “when flour, eggs, milk, sugar and flavourings essences are stored in foul and close, evil-smelling sleeping rooms, the innocuousness of the delicious compound is open to grave suspicion”. The foul smells of the room suggest the lack of cleanliness that the product was manufactured in, which causes the health risk. The press continued to highlight several deaths resulting in the consumption of ice cream, suggesting that the way ice cream was made, through the way “eggs are pierced at each end and then blown by the mouth” to empty the contents, contributed to the deaths. The intact eggshell was sold to shooting galleries for upper-class gentlemen to practice shooting.(8) This article in the newspaper pleads that “all street vendors shall be registered” and the standard and purity of ice cream to be assured as the “poor British public goes on quietly submitting to be[ing] poisoned”.(9) This statement emphasises the lack of knowledge and understanding the general public had about the transmission of disease and how their everyday lives were impacting their health without their knowledge.
During a Parliamentary debate regarding the sale of ice cream in the streets and how the consumption of ice cream caused deaths, several samples of water and ice cream were taken from a vendor for investigation. Dr Klein, in 1894, examined these samples and concluded that the samples had traces of sewage matter and other organisms that contributed to illness and death. Due to this revelation, attention was brought to Parliament to the “danger of mouth-to-mouth infection to children sucking ices successively out of the same glass”, while also suggesting whether the measures enforced by the Public Health Acts and the Sale of Food and Drugs acts are inefficient in the “control or prohibit the sale of poisonous compounds such as theses ices”.(10) The investigation concluded that the current public health acts passed to improve sanitary conditions were not sufficient enough to prevent further illness from occurring. While the Sale of Food and Drugs Act of 1875 prohibited the sale of products such as food and drugs that were not of the “proper nature, substance, and quality”.(11) However, this act was not extending far enough to regulate how food was served.
Furthermore, a solution was needed to resolve the growing number of cholera and tuberculosis outbreaks and other communicable diseases relating to the sale of penny licks. The solution was an edible cone made of a wafer, which is the familiar serving of ice cream we have now and the penny lick became illegal in 1926. Agnes Marshall’s recipe book included an edible cone recipe but it was not until 1902 that Antonio Valvona patented a machine for making wafer cones.(12)
Conclusion
In conclusion, the accessibility of ice cream to the general public on the Victorian streets of London became a curiosity but also a danger as the general public was unaware that they were getting a lot more than they paid for in the form of disease. Italian influence and culture of ice cream making from Italian immigrants after the 1848 revolutions in Europe introduced flavours and processes that were not seen before in Britain. The Italian influence created a solution that reduced cholera outbreaks and improved the sanitary conditions amongst ice cream vendors.
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Now read Amy’s article on the Great Stench in 19th century London here.
Bibliography
Bristol Times and Mirror, ‘Notes of the day’, Bristol Times and Mirror (12 Oct 1894).
HC Deb 23 June 1898, vol 59, cols 1223.
Marks, T. ‘Ice cream: the inside scoop’, 9 July 2020, The British Museum blog < https://blog.britishmuseum.org/ice-cream-the-inside-scoop/ >.
Mayhew, H. London labour and the London poor: Volume 1. (London, Griffin, Bohn, and Company, 1861).
Moss, R. ‘The complete history of ice cream cones’, 13 May 2020, Serious Eats < https://www.seriouseats.com/ice-cream-cone-history >.
Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1875, s6.
Wilson, A. ‘Science Jottings’, Illustrated London News (16 July 1898).
References
1 T.Marks, ‘Ice cream: the inside scoop’, 9 July 2020, The British Museum blog < https://blog.britishmuseum.org/ice-cream-the-inside-scoop/ >[accessed 20 June 2022].
2 H. Mayhew. London labour and the London poor: Volume 1. (London, Griffin, Bohn, and Company, 1861),p.207.
3 Ibid.,p.207.
4 Ibid.,p.207.
5 Ibid.,p.207.
6 A. Wilson, ‘Science Jottings’, Illustrated London News (16 July 1898).
7 Ibid.
8 Bristol Times and Mirror, ‘Notes of the day’, Bristol Times and Mirror (12 Oct 1894).
9 Ibid.
10 HC Deb 23 June 1898, vol 59, cols 1223.
11 Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1875, s6.
12 R. Moss, ‘The complete history of ice cream cones’, 13 May 2020, Serious Eats < https://www.seriouseats.com/ice-cream-cone-history >[accessed 21 June 2022].
