How did Americans come to love ice cream so much?

People in the United States cannot claim to have invented ice cream, but we sure do love to eat it. On average, US citizens each consume a staggering 40+ pints of ice cream in a year. Our fondness for the cold treat is as old as the country itself, says journalist Amy Ettinger. She talked to NPR’s The Salt to explain how ice cream became an American cultural touchstone. 

The nation’s Founding Fathers, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, loved ice cream. Washington was so fond it of that when his estate was cataloged, one of the items was a 306-piece ice cream serving set. Jefferson likely brought back the first recipe for ice cream with him from one of his many trips to France. The recipe is very close to what home cooks use today, consisting of “six egg yolks, a half-pound of sugar, two bottles of good cream, and one vanilla bean”, but the method is a lot easier now with the advent of electric ice cream makers.

In the early days of the republic, ice cream was accessible only to the wealthy. As ice delivery methods improved, the dessert became less expensive, and therefore popular with the masses (because who wouldn’t like ice cream?). The fact that the country’s elite enjoyed it also played into its appeal. Once refrigeration became commonplace, there was no holding us back from eating gallons of the stuff. 

Prohibition even played a part in ice cream’s popularity. When booze was outlawed, temperance movement leaders suggested that instead of going to bars, people should instead socialize at soda fountains. And they did – in 1920, the first year of Prohibition, Americans consumed 260 million gallons of ice cream. 

Ice cream has remained popular ever since. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan – continuing the long line of Presidents who loved the frozen dessert – declared July to be National Ice Cream Month. There is no more delicious way to be patriotric this July 4 than to eat a heaping bowl of ice cream. 

Photo of True vanilla ice cream from  Bon Appétit Magazine