
Food - Ice Cream - Sanitary ice cream cones 1917

by Mike Savad
Title
Food - Ice Cream - Sanitary ice cream cones 1917
Artist
Mike Savad
Medium
Photograph - Colorized Photo
Description
Colorized photo from 1917
Original title: Kids work in factory
Location: 116 S. Dewey Street, Oklahoma City, OK
Ice cream has an interesting past. In the early 1800's it used to be very expensive, a treat for only the wealthy. As time moved on into the later 1800's, street vendors were able to sell it to the masses.
They called them Penny Licks. A glass cup was filled with ice cream, and you licked it out of the cup, for just a penny. When you were done, you would hand the glass back to the vendor and he might or might not wash it out for the next person.
Naturally this was disgusting. There may have been dozens of others that used it before you, and the water washing it off, was simply a bucket. And it was bad for the vendor, as many would simply steal the cup.
Two people came up with an edible container. Both made machines for it, one of them called it an edible biscuit cup. Today we call them ice cream cones. They allowed the vendor to sell two treats in one, didn't lose the cup, because he doesn't need a cup. And it lets the patron leave knowing they have a clean container to eat from.
However what they don't know is, the factory, is less than ideal. Before the FDA was created, people didn't have rules to follow. They did what they wanted too. And if that meant working with bear hands, on a dirt floor in a horse stable, then that was perfectly fine. And if it meant you dropped a lot of food on the ground, and rats ate it while you worked, that was fine too. The important thing is the image you created in the mind of the ice cream lover... its sanitary.
Uploaded
October 9th, 2016
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