Of course gelato is Italian, but one of its most popular varieties, the ice cream cone – or cono gelato – is the brainchild of an Italian, too,  and that the US had part in its creation.There is very little out there that speaks of summer as much as an ice cream cone, especially in Italy, but have you ever wondered where the ubiquitous wafer comes from? Well, the answer is, a bit from Italy, a bit from the US, and its origin is steeped in drama.

According to the New York Times, the ice cream cone was born out of necessity during the St. Louis World Fair of 1904. The fair had been organized to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the city’s liberation from the French and its annexing by the US. That year, St Louis had the Olympics and the World Fair, a perfect showcase for recent inventions like the radio, the telephone and the airplane, but also for gargantuan quantities of food, presented in the most creative ways, including buildings and towers made of cereals and sculptures made of butter.