Here’s the scoop on China’s coolest and tastiest invention
A few weeks ago, under a cloudless sky and with the summer really starting to crank up the heat, some colleagues and I headed to a nearby supermarket for ice cream. Back at the office, we wolfed into our rapidly melting treats, the perfect tonic to the temperature. I remember saying something along the lines of, “I’m so glad you guys invented this stuff.”
It was news to my workmates, Chinese and expat alike.
In truth, I’d only made the discovery myself a couple of days previously while catching up with a news quiz from back home in the UK. Amid the topical humor and snarky jokes about Brexit came the following gem: Ice cream was invented in China.
Although other cultures had been partial to chilling out with flavored ice, historians reckon ice cream’s ancient ancestor was born during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), when the emperors became the first to add milk to their concoctions. Apparently, an emperor at the time employed more than 90 “icemen” to mix buffalo and goat milk, camphor and flour and store it in snow. Which sounds pretty disgusting and a long way from a tub of Ben & Jerry’s but there you go.
It seems it was pretty popular and murals of the time show ladies of the court tucking into the stuff.
Anyway, I’m not sure why I was surprised by this, considering China has brought the world hundreds of inventions we use to this day (my personal favorites are alcohol, toilet paper and sunglasses. Soccer, or is also claimed but as a Scot I’m afraid I can’t accept this). I suppose I’d always thought ice cream came from Italy or the United States. Certainly the US likes to grab some of the credit and as you read this is celebrating National Ice Cream Month, which has been held every July since 1984 (what can I say, I’ve been reading way too much about ice cream lately).
As I said, this all happened a few weeks ago. However, it was back on my mind last week with the news that Mount Fanjing, in the southwestern province of Guizhou, had been given world heritage status.
Qin Changwei, secretarygeneral of China’s National Commission for UNESCO, told Xinhua News Agency that the award was an international acknowledgment of the achievement the country has made in protecting the ecological environment and biological diversity. Which is awesome, no question, and all credit is due.
But all I could think was, so what about ice cream? Doesn’t it deserve some kind of heritage status? Natural wonders and feats of human engineering hog most of the attention, but it’s hard to think of an innovation that has given more joy and happiness than ice cream, beloved across age groups, cultures and continents. It’s like an edible World Cup.
So the next time I’m in the freezer section, seeking sweet relief from the sticky summer, I’ll be giving a silent thank you to the ancient emperor and his icemen. And hoping those cool dudes one day get the recognition they deserve.
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