Who Invented the Ice cream Cone?

Who really invented the Ice cream cone?

And if you thought the invention of the sundae was confusing, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Many histories proclaim that the ice cream cone was invented in 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair (the Louisiana Purchase Exposition), when Syrian immigrant Ernest Hamwi gave some of his “zalabia” (a waffle-like pastry) from his pastry cart to neighboring Arnold Fornachou, who had run out of paper dishes to serve his ice cream in at his adjoining ice cream cart at the fair. Another version has Hamwi teaming up with a different ice cream vendor named Charles Menches, who also ran out of dishes.

Well, wait…yet another vendor named Abe Doumar said he created the cone and sold it nightly at the fair. Hang on…fair vendor David Avayou said the same thing, claiming he knew of “cones of pastry” from France. All in all there were about 50 ice cream vendors and more than a dozen waffle stands at the fair, so it’s very likely there were several vendors selling some version of an ice cream cone. Certainly, the cone became universally popular after this date. Despite the number of claimants, most ice cream experts and associations give the credit to Hamwi (see why below).

But - let us seriously consider Italo Marciony (also spelled Marchioni and Marcioni)– who claimed he created the ice cream cone on September 22, 1896! He sold his cones from a pushcart in New York City, and his claim may be the best, since he had a patent for a waffle mold, granted in December, 1903, eight months before the St. Louis Fair! His invention was “…like a waffle iron and producing several small pastry cups with sloping sides.” I have a copy of it courtesy of Anthony Gullo of Hoboken, NJ, who also provided me with more about this fascinating, and little known inventor... (zingersicecream)

See also :
Sour Sally
Dim Sum