Oh yeah. Waffle cones.
Though there are references for cones before 1904, they became wildly popular at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, when an ice cream vendor, Arnold Fornachou, ran out of cups to serve his ice cream and the vendor next to him, Ernest Hamwi, a Syrian immigrant, rolled up some of his zalabia (mideastern waffle-like pastry), to hold the ice cream and to help out his neighbor. The ice cream cone was born.
Of course, there are other stories- but they all involve an immigrant of Syrian or Turkish origin (Abe Doumar, Nick Kabaz, David Avayou), an ice cream maker (Charles Menches, Italo Marchioni) who has run out of cups, and the zalabia. The characters change; the story remains the same.
Little did I realize, as I watched the Ghirardelli guy making waffle cones, that I was witnessing the result of an invention born of collaboration and cross-cultural connections.
We need lots more recipes like that.
OVER THE FENCE
THROUGH THE GATE
MEXICAN-GREEK
EUROPEANJEWISH
GASTRONOMIC
WONDERS
Absolutely!