The ice cream sundae
As noted above, George Washington enjoyed ice creams covered by flavored whipped cream, a variation of the ice cream sundae. Ice creams covered with a sauce of numerous varieties, including chocolate, were popular in the eighteenth century, though they were not referred to as sundaes in the cookbooks and recipes of the period. No single person has been credited with the invention of the sundae, though several towns have claimed it as their own.
Buffalo and Ithaca in New York claim to be the birthplace of the ice cream sundae. So does Two Rivers, Wisconsin and Evanston, Illinois. The argument is as pointless as it is persistent. There are multiple claimants of the distinction of having created the first sundae as well, though dates are inconsistent, evidence is slim, and no claim has more validity than another. The sundae simply emerged, and some say it emerged from the popularity of the ice cream soda.
One reason that the carbonated beverages called sodas were sold in drugstores is that they were marketed as having healthful benefits. All of the early soda brands which gained regional or national fame; Dr. Pepper, Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, et al, were marketed and sold as having properties which served as tonics for various ailments such as fatigue, “vapors”, digestive issues, headaches, and other issues plaguing potential customers.
Because of these properties, in many communities it was believed that excessive consumption of tonics was a moral failing, and that like alcohol and other items their sale should not be allowed on Sunday. Druggists and other vendors had no problem with halting the sale of soda on the Lord’s Day, but they didn’t want to lose the sales of ice cream at the same time, so the ingredients of a soda, ice cream, syrup, whipped cream etc., were served in a dish without the soda.
In these communities, so the story goes, the dish was called ice cream Sunday, and over time the spelling changed to sundae, to remove association with the blue laws which had given it birth. Sundaes under that name emerged during the 1890s and have as many variations of flavor combinations as there are flavors of ice cream and syrup, as well as toppings which began with chopped nuts, and became seemingly infinite over time.