During the course of the eighteenth century, Ice cream became the ultimate show-off luxury for adorning a fashionable dinner table. As a result, new items of equipment for serving this novelty dish started to appear on the market. The main challenge was to produce an attractive container which could be displayed centre stage on the sideboard or table, but which was also capable of preventing the ice cream from melting. These specialised three-part vessels first appeared in France in 1720s, where they were called seaux à glace - ice cream coolers. They employed a mixture of ice and salt to refrigerate their contents.

By the 1770s  the fashion for these beautiful vessels became an aristocratic craze and, nearly every European manufactory was producing them. In England, the Worcester factory played a leading role in developing some of the finest of these vessels. Food historian, Ivan Day will guide us through the development of ice cream coolers and ice cream cups, with a strong focus on the marvellous examples produced at Worcester.

Ivan Day is one of the UK’s most celebrated food historians, broadcasters, writers and curators who specialises in the reconstruction of period kitchens and historic table displays. His work has been exhibited in many institutions worldwide, including the Museum of London, the Metropolitan Museum and the Getty Research Institute. His publications include: Cooking in Europe, 1650-1850 and Ice Cream: A History.

Image: Ice Pail, 1776, William Davis Factory, MORW 1189.