Was ice cream invented in Philadelphia? How about by the Emperor Nero, when he poured honey over snow? Did Marco Polo first taste it in China and bring recipes back? In this first book to tell ice cream's full story, Jeri Quinzio traces the beloved confection from its earliest appearances in sixteenth-century Europe to the small towns of America and debunks some colorful myths along the way. She explains how ice cream is made, describes its social role, and connects historical events to its business and consumption. A diverting yet serious work of history, Of Sugar and Snow provides a fascinating array of recipes, from a seventeenth-century Italian lemon sorbet to a twentieth-century American strawberry mallobet, and traces how this once elite status symbol became today's universally available and wildly popular treat.

Perhaps the history of ice cream isn't crucial to the advancement of civilization, but it's one of humanity's sweeter inventions and that may make its study more significant than one would think at first glance. This is the "elite treat" of Europe that underwent an American transformation as stunning as Norma Jean to Marilyn Monroe. From hand cranked machines to Baked Alaska, Dairy Queen to Ben and Jerry's, the history of ice cream also becomes a history of American culture and tastes. Paper edition (unseen), $18.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR