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I

After WWII, ice cream production boomed.

America’s cow population reached an

all-time high, creating a tremendous

production capacity.

Today’s total frozen dairy
annual production in the
United States is more than
6.4 billion pounds.

History duction of the motorized trucks with parlour. He outfitted trucks with prim-
refrigeration that provided a more itive freezers, and bells, and took to
The origins of the first ice cream sanitary experience. Ice cream became the streets creating the iconic Good
street vendors dates back to the nine- a luxury item for years to come. Due Humour Ice Cream trucks that you can
teenth century, though there is no to ongoing technological advances, still see today on the streets of New
official record. Before motorized ice today’s total frozen dairy annual pro- York. Good Humour drivers dressed in
cream trucks were introduced by Har- duction in the United States is more than crisp white uniforms, were always sure
ry Burt, vendors sold ice cream or 6.4 billion pounds, according to the to tip their hat at Passersby. The Good
flavoured ice, from pushcarts. “Push- International Dairy Foods Assoication. Humour trucks, and subsequent ice
carts markets provided immigrants cream trucks remain an icon of sum-
with a free social space unburdened by Good Humour mertime bliss.
the financial costs of wealthier city
people,” observed a historian in Wen- New York company, Good Hu- The Depression Era
dy A. Woloson’s book: Refined Tastes: mour, revolutionized how Americans
Sugar, Confectionery, and Consumers consumed ice cream. Ice cream parlour After WWII, ice cream produc-
in Nineteenth-Century America. Yet owner and candy maker Harry Burt tion boomed. America’s cow popula-
the pushcarts could often be unsani- created a chocolate and ice cream bar tion reached an all-time high, creating
tary: consumers were concerned they similar to Christian Nelson’s Eskimo a tremendous production capacity,
would get sick by buying the produce. Pie. At the suggestion of his children, according to this study. Icecream truck
The vendors would sell a small dish of Burt added a stick to the ice cream to industry continued to grow, and devel-
ice cream or ice that the customer make it easier, and less messy, to con- op such as the famous Mister Softee
would lick clean to be returned to the sume. Burt then thought of an enter- brand was founded in 1956. Good
vendor who would reuse the dish for prising way to deliver, and distribute Humour sold its fleet in the 1970s to
the next customer. It was the intro- the ice cream bars further than his own focus on grocery store products.

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