However, on a hot day the following summer at the St. Louis Fair,  Ernest M. Hamwi, a pastry baker of  Syrian origin, rolled up some of his Zalabia pastry and sold the cones to an ice cream concessionaire who was running out of dishes.  But -- uh oh -- a man named Abe Doumar claimed to have  invented the ice cream cone in a very similar way at the Fair, making a cornucopia of a waffle,  filling it with a scoop of ice cream, and selling it nightly after 6 p.m. where the concessionaires gathered in the entertainment area of the Fair.   Meanwhile, a Turkish native named David Avayou, who had owned several ice cream shops in New Jersey, claimed that he started selling edible cones at the St. Louis Fair because he'd long known about  French ice cream cones of pastry, or even of paper or metal.

It has been noted that there were around fifty ice cream stands at that Fair in St. Louis and a large number of waffle shops.   Doubtless, the 1904 Fair was the place where the cone became popular.  They called it the "World's Fair Cornucopia."  Nice touch.  And, in case you hadn't noticed, it caught on.

The dripping ice cream cones are courtesy of the 
The disappearing ice cream cone is courtesy of 
 

Who Cooked That Up? is copyrighted 1998 by J.J. Schnebel
revised November 2004
all rights reserved for your pleasure and enlightenment

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