#14: Sustainable or Gross?
Ice cream has always been a sweet treat beloved by many. However, it used to be served in a much different way. Back in the day, street vendors didn’t have ice cream cones at their disposal. So, naturally, they used glass bowls to serve their customers. These reusable glass bowls sound pretty sustainable to our modern-day ears, right? Well, sure, but they weren’t that great.
These bowls of ice cream were called “penny licks,” and they were served in London, England, among other places in the late 19th and early 20th century. People’s understanding of basic germ theory was a lot different back then. Yup, your suspicions are correct. Vendors never washed these glass bowls. Customers would just reuse them and eat ice cream mixed with other people’s germs.