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The History of Ice Cream at the British Seaside
Ice cream is believed to have originated in China in the 2nd Century B.C. and existed in some form in Ancient Greece and Persia. The Venetian merchant, Marco Polo is rumored to have brought the cooled confection to the European Continent from his travels, although not all historians agree this is how ice cream made its way to Europe. However, during the medieval period, it was Italy that led the way in the production and dissemination of the dessert in the Western world. It arrived in England in the seventeenth century, but it was only the aristocracy that could afford to produce this luxury food.
In the 1800s, large influxes of Italian immigrants to England brought with them their knowledge and ability to produce ice cream inexpensively, allowing the product to be made available to the general public in ever increasing quantities. Italian merchants set up hand carts to sell ice cream on the streets of London and throughout Britain. By the interwar period on the 1930s, Italians dominated the ice cream trade in Britain. Many sold the treat from mobile stalls, while others set up cafes and ice cream parlors at the seaside, selling the confection up and down the coasts of the UK.
Rationing
In January 1940, the British government instituted food rationing on goods such as meat, butter and tea in order to reduce imports and conserve resources in the Second World War. It also placed controls on milk, eggs and sugar, key ingredients needed to make ice cream. Ration levels of these foods varied throughout the war. On the basic adult ration, weekly allocations ranged from 16 to 8 oz of sugar, 2 to 2 1/2 pints of milk and 1 egg per person. Under food restrictions, families used substitute ingredients, cut back on the consumption of some foods such as meat, eggs and sugar, and used creative means to make wartime inspired dishes such as mock goose or Woolton pie.
WW2 British Child’s Ration book
Limitations to British food levels and further reductions to the ration levels as the war progressed made it impossible to continue the production of ice cream on the home front. On 30 September 1942, the Ministry of Food banned the making of ice cream. The newly created Ice Cream Alliance, the national advocacy group for all ice cream businesses in Britain, petitioned the government to reconsider their decision and allow the production of ice cream to continue. However, the Ministry refused and the ban on ice cream remained in place for the rest of the war.
Internment
At the outbreak of the conflict, beaches were closed, and in many places, barbed wire and concrete barriers were put in place to prevent attacks from the sea. The food controls and the restrictions on the use of British beaches impacted many businesses reliant on holiday makers, including the Italian ice cream vendors. Some companies withered in the face of these changes, while others adapted and made a profit from the wartime conditions. In some coastal towns, such as Morecambe, government officials requisitioned hotels and boarding houses to accommodate men and women training for the military. In Wales, Colwyn Bay became the main headquarters for the Ministry of Food, which whose offices occupied large parts of the town.
The Italian communities in seaside towns not only had to deal with the contraction of their ice cream businesses, but many members were also impacted by internment. On 11 June 1940, the day after Mussolini declared war on Britain, the UK government used Regulation 18B of the Defense Regulations (1939) to round up all Italian males between the ages of 17 and 70, who had been living in Britain for less than 20 years. They were then placed in internment camps throughout Britain. Approximately 4,000 Italians were removed from London and placed in detention areas. Many of the Italians in the UK were sent to camps on the Isle of Man, joining German internees already imprisoned there. Other Italian internees were sent to the Dominions. 1,596 Italians were transported to Canada, while another 200 were deported to Australia for the duration of the war.
Ice Cream Alternatives
Although wartime restrictions prevented the production of the dessert, the Ice Cream Alliance and the British government sought ways to make mock versions of ice cream for people’s enjoyment. In April 1942, the Ice Cream Alliance produced a booklet, entitled “Revised Recipes for War Time Ice Cream”, in which they provided consumers with recipes for ice cream using alternative goods that were more easily accessible in the market. The Alliance recommended using glucose, honey or saccharine to replace sugar. It also suggested using synthetic cream or animal fat to substitute for the fats gained from milk and eggs. Another key ingredient in ice cream, which was also in short supply, was corn flour. The Alliance’s booklet contained recipes that used wheatmeal flour or soya flour as an alternative to corn flour.
During the war, the government was keen to promote nutrition through food rations using its “Kitchen Front” radio broadcast campaign. It employed humor and, at times, a bit of whimsy to engage the public in its campaign and to get its message across without moralizing the issue. One way it did so was by creating anthropomorphized vegetable characters, including Potato Pete and Dr. Carrot to encourage people to eat healthily and to use these ingredients in a variety of ways, including using carrots as a sugar substitute in cookery. The carrot also became synonymous with the dearth of ice cream in wartime. Instead of the milky dessert, children were sold carrots on a stick, which served as a naturally sweet and nutritious alternative to ice cream.
Rossi’s Ices in Weymouth, Dorset, England
The Return of Ice Cream
The victories in Europe and Japan signaled the end of hostilities and the slow return to normal life in Britain. Beaches were cleared of barbed wire; barricades were removed, and holiday makers once again returned to the seaside. Food rationing continued until 1954, but the ban on ice cream was lifted in 1945. The Italians, who were interned during the war, were released and many returned to their homes in Britain. Many took up the ice cream business again, which expanded steadily in the post war period. Today, ice cream remains a staple food at the British seaside, due, in large part, to the lasting influence of Italians living in the U.K.
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Reference List
Books
Chappell, Connery, Island of Barbed Wire: Internment on the Isle of Man in World War Two (London, 2005). (This should be in the case, but IHR Staff ran out of time to place it there.)
Crowhurst, Basil, A History of the British Ice Cream Industry (Westerham, 2000).
Gardiner, Juliette, Wartime: Britain 1939-1945 (London, 2004).
Howlett, Peter, Fighting with Figures: A Statistical Digest of the Second World War (London, 1995).
Jordan, Trevor A., Morecambe Wings: The RAF and Morecambe during the Second World War 1939-1945 (Self-published, 2014).
Longmate, Norman, How We Lived Then: A History of Everyday Life During the Second World War (London, 1971). Roberts, Graham, Colwyn Bay at War from Old Photographs (Stroud, 2012).
Image List
Ice Cream Cone – Image via Wikimedia courtesy of D Sharon Pruitt
WWII British Children’s Ration Book – Image via Wikimedia, author The National Archives
Potato Pete – Image via Wikimedia, author unknown
Rossi’s Ices in Weymouth, Dorset, England – Image via Wikimedia courtesy of Jpbowen