The history of ice cream is linked with that of gastronomy and refrigeration. The Chinese knew the art of making iced drinks and desserts long before the Christian era. They taught this art to the Arabs, who began making syrups chilled with snow, called sharbets (hence the words "sherbet" and "sorbet").

At the court of Alexander the Great and later under Nero, fruit salads and purées were served, mixed with honey and snow. It was not until the 13th century, however, that Marco Polo brought back from the east the secret of cooling without ice, by running a mixture of water and saltpetre over containers filled with the substance to be cooled. Thus the great fashion of water ices began in Italy.

When Catherine de' Medici arrived in France to marry the future Henri II, she introduced iced desserts to the court, amoung other culinary novelties, but the Parisian public only discovered them a century later, when Francesco Procopio opened a café. People went there to read news-sheets, discuss politics and literature and above all to sample drinks and delicacies, amoung which there were ices and sorbets (sherbets) that soon became all the rage. Procope (as he was now called) was soon imitated by his colleagues: in the 18th century, 250 limonadiers were selling ices in Paris, but only in summer. In about 1750 Procope's successor, Buisson, had the idea of selling ices all the year round. The fashion at that time was to walk under the arcade of the Paris-Royal where the fashionable cafés sold their iced specialities, but these were still of poor quality.

Around 1775, ices became more delicate in flavour, richer and with more body, so that they could be moulded into different shapes. Ices made with milk, cream and eggs appeared. In fact, they had been discovered in 1650 by a French cook of Charles I of England, who paid him to keep his method secret. The end of the 18th century saw the great fashion for fromages glacés. The manufacture of ices continued to develope. The ice bombe appeared and it became customary to serve it during any meal of any significance. Two Italians, Pratti and Tortoni, were especially famous for their fine ices; in particularly, in 1798. Under the second Empire the surprise omelette was invented, then the first coupes, mousses and parfaits. Ices were served at the end of meals and also became common during balls and receptions. Very refined blends of flavours were invented (apricot and wild cerries, Mignonne peaches, Malmsey wine from Alicante, angelica liqueur, the yolks of finch eggs, sugary melon, hazelnuts and mint liqueur, green tea and citron juice, pistachios and peach juice, etc., according to the recipes in the Préceptoral des menus royaux of 1822). By the beginning of the 20th century, itinerant ice-cream vendors were already selling in the streets. North America have been particularly inventive as regards the ice-cream industry.