Ice cream has been served in Britain since the seventeenth century. It has graced the tables of kings, and the cones of the working man; it has been plain, flavored, molded, sliced, squirted and scooped. It has made the fortunes of industrialists and put bread on the table of generations of Italian emigres.

This new history of ice cream by food historian Ivan Day tells the whole story of ice cream in Britain, a story that has seen both the democratization of this favorite frozen dessert, and a fall in the standards of its production and presentation. It is a story of fine cuisine,...