In 1904, a crowded fair helped turn the ice cream cone into a national sensation

Few foods are as instantly recognisable as the ice cream cone. Its shape is simple and so familiar that most of us barely ever think about its origin. But one of the enduring tales of American food begins with a mishap at a crowded fair. The story is that of an ice cream vendor who, during a busy time, ran out of dishes, and so a waffle seller, who had a stall next door, rolled one of his waffles into a cone shape so that his neighbour could serve ice cream in it, helping create a fairground sensation.It is certainly a memorable story; there's only one real problem with it: historians aren't entirely sure that it happened. What they do agree on is that the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair played a major role in turning the ice cream cone into a national sensation.Built on noveltyOfficially titled the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the 1904 World's Fair was held in St. Louis, Missouri, to showcase developments, innovations, technologies, and cultures from all over the world.Nearly twenty million people attended over about seven months, making it one of the largest public events in America of the era. According to Washington University in St. Louis, the fair helped popularise a number of products and ideas that would become part of everyday life, including the ice cream cone.Food was always a central attraction at such fairs. People came to see exhibitions but also to consume what was on offer.Vendors were crammed together in a buzzing marketplace where the sheer novelty of a new item often played an equal, if not greater, part in its taste. In such an environment, a simple food that could be carried about gained immediate popularity.The well-known taleThe popular story holds that at the time of the World's Fair, an ice cream seller ran out of bowls during a rush, and it was his neighbouring waffle seller who came to his rescue by shaping his waffle into a cone shape to use it to serve ice cream instead.The story has endured for more than a century partly because it feels plausible in the crowded, improvisational environment of a major fair; you just have to look at the experience of working at a large event to understand how readily improvised solutions are put into practice when a vendor runs out of something essential.But despite this, historians have not fully reconciled all of the facts about the invention of the cone. Many different people, at different times, have claimed credit for the innovation. Syrian-born pastry vendor Ernest Hamwi is credited in some versions of the story with having sold waffle-like zalabia at the fair, served in edible containers long before 1904, and is also named in some versions. Why do the historians remain cautious?The challenge is that cone-like desserts existed before 1904.Food historians have found evidence that various forms of edible containers were used in Europe to serve frozen and sweet products years before the exposition in St. Louis, but that doesn't mean the tale of the World's Fair is wrong.It suggests the cone may have existed in other forms before 1904, or that different vendors at the World’s Fair were independently experimenting with it too; however, many historians believe that the World's Fair played the most significant role by bringing it to widespread public attention, turning it into an established item in the world of food service.According to the National Park Service, both the hot dog and the ice cream cone became closely associated with the exposition and were introduced to a much wider audience there.It is perhaps part of the story's genius that the cone has become so closely linked to the fair that it represents innovation born of a mishap, something people always want to read about.Why the cone caught onPart of the cone's success was practical. A bowl requires a spoon. A cone does not.In the busy environment of the World’s Fair, this advantage likely contributed to the cone's popularity, with people free to roam around the exhibition displays without being hindered by a dish and spoon. Not only was it a practical invention, but it also changed how ice cream could be consumed, as the cone was also consumed as part of the dish, rather than being merely packaging.This combination of practicality and convenience was well-suited to the environment of the World's Fair and may help explain why the cone became so popular.More than 120 years later, the debate over who deserves credit continues.