National Ice Cream Day

When: 3rd Sunday of July

National Ice Cream Day celebrates the frozen treat that went from an aristocratic luxury available only to the very wealthy to one of the world's most universally beloved foods in less than a century. Ice cream's democratization through mechanical refrigeration and mass production is one of food history's great leveling stories.

Ice cream was served in the White House before it was available to most Americans — Dolley Madison served strawberry ice cream at a White House state dinner in 1813, when it was still an expensive luxury almost no one else could afford.

Ice cream was served in the White House before it was available to most Americans — Dolley Madison served strawberry ice cream at a White House state dinner in 1813, when it was still an expensive luxury almost no one else could afford.

Ice cream as a cold dairy dessert was served to Chinese emperors as early as 600 CE — Tang Dynasty emperor Tang Taizong reportedly had 94 "ice men" to harvest ice and create frozen buffalo milk desserts. In the Arab world, sherbets (chilled fruit drinks) and frozen desserts made with snow were consumed by the wealthy during the medieval period. The technique spread to Italy, where Renaissance courts served elaborate frozen desserts called "sorbetto," and to France, where it was brought by Catherine de' Medici's entourage when she married Henry II in 1533 — though this story is disputed by historians. The first recipes for ice cream in English appear in the late 17th century, in manuscripts from the kitchens of English nobility. Making ice cream required natural ice stored in ice houses through summer — a luxury only wealthy households maintained. The American Founders were ice cream enthusiasts: George Washington spent about $200 on ice cream one summer at Mount Vernon; Thomas...