One of my friends told me the origin of an Ice cream sundae came about from the Catholic Chruch. Back in the day when soda was first introduced, the church thought it as a thing of the devil so on sundays, the church goers would just have ice cream in a bowl instead of the popular Ice cream float. Therefore the “Ice-cream Sundae” was born. Any truth to this?
-M
Sort of, but wrong religion.
Sort of, maybe and maybe not, but wrong religion.
But 2/3 of the way down this page for a different origin of the term “sundae”.
I haven’t read Walloon’s links, but I heard this on The History Channel a couple of weeks ago. Ice cream was served at soda fountains (often in pharmacies). One of the most popular things to have was an ice cream soda. Some people believed that carbonated water – soda – was as “intoxicating” (although not in the same way) as alcohol. Some preachers suggested that since this was (believed at the time to be) the case, that it was immoral to have ice cream sodas on Sunday; so an enterprising soda jerk made an ice cream soda without the soda – ice cream in a dish with fudge sauce and whipped cream. It was meant to be consumed on Sunday, and so was called the “ice cream Sunday”. When it turned out to be very popular he decided to sell it all week and changed the name to “sundae”.
Of course, The History Channel often makes factual errors and sometimes perpetuates Urban Legends; but this is what they said on a recent show.
Here’s what the OED says:
Rumor has it that the sundae was invented in my hometown, Evanston, Il., which was also the home of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union Knowing how anal Evanston can be (the town was almost completely dry until I was in college; there were no retail alcohol sales, and maybe half a dozen restaurants with limited liquor licenses, meaning you could order wine or beer IF you ordered a full meal), I tend to believe it.