FactMap·Missouri

The Ice Cream Cone's Origin Story

The ice cream cone was invented at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, though the exact origin is disputed between several vendors who claim to have had the idea simultaneously. The most cited account involves Syrian waffle maker Ernest Hamwi, who was selling zalabia, a crispy waffle pastry, at a booth next to an ice cream vendor who ran out of dishes. Hamwi rolled his waffles into cones on the spot to help his neighbor. Whatever its precise origin, the cone was an immediate sensation at the fair and spread to ice cream parlors across the country within a year.

Source: Wikipedia

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