SCOOP: A Wonderful Ice Cream World

Image: Postcards Home

Ice cream dripped over our Instagram feeds back in 2016 with the launch of the Museum of Ice Cream in New York. The sorbet-hued and flake-filled creation was led by Founder and Creative Director, Maryellis Bunn who was inspired by her childhood dream of jumping into a pool full of sprinkles. Now there are Museums of Ice Cream in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami with constant queues of influencers and ice cream lovers alike, making all of us on this side of the pond green with envy.

So we were thrilled that The British Museum of Food was dedicating its first major exhibition to celebrate the past, present and future of ice cream, by the weird and wonderful guys over at Bompas and Parr. The exhibition runs from 3rd July to 30th September 2018 and is just what this heatwave needed.

SCOOP is nestled into the newly-developed , which is an area definitely worth a wander along the canal to if you find yourself in King's Cross. Iron gasholders and coal houses have been turned into luxury apartments and pop-up shops just a stone's throw away from Central St Martins and The House of Illustration, making it a real mecca of creativity and design in North London. If you can, sneak into one of the Gasholder buildings to see the decor inside.

Image: No12 Studio/ Tina Hillier

Scoop: A Wonderful Ice Cream World

The exhibition is centred on the world’s largest collection of ice cream paraphernalia (14,000 items), collected over 40 years by Robin and Caroline Weir, authors of the award-winning book "Ice Creams Sorbets and Gelati The Definitive Guide" from Grub Street Publishers.  

Interior obsessives will love the decor and details, such as these cute little cacti in cones at reception, boy did they look cool.

Image: Postcards Home

As long as you make it out of the sub-zero freezer that you have to walk through to kick off the exhibition, you can expect a history lesson that takes you from the penny lick to the soft-serve machine and into the frozen future.

Full of facts that we'll be whipping out throughout the Summer, every room is focused on a different bit of ice cream's evolution.

Did you know that Wall's Ice Cream began because Mr Wall the butcher was annoyed at having to lay staff off during the hot Summer months when people didn't buy sausages and pies, so he diversified into a Summer snack his staff could sell?!

Image: Postcards Home

And to make you feel like you've won the Golden Ticket to Willy Wonka's factory - there is a press-and-sniff wall so you can smell obscure aromas of ice cream flavours past. Top tip - keep a close eye on the reactions of the person in front of you and adjust your sniffing accordingly. 

Image: Postcards Home

We've got a real thing for British seaside memorabilia and the sculptures and prints inspired by ice cream on exhibition were so much fun. Spot the Andy Warhol print below left!

Image: Postcards Home

You'll travel back in time to Marshall's School of Cookery where Agnes B. Marshall will teach you how to make ice cream in a variety of strange and sensational flavours. We made parmesan cheese flavour and almost instantly regretted it. 

Image: Postcards Home

Get ready for the science lesson. We strapped ourselves in to see how our brainwaves reacted when we tasted ice cream (deliriously happy), and stepped into a vanilla mist to breath in the flavoured vapours.

Image: Postcards Home

We finished off our 45 minute ice cream immersion at Conehenge (what a pun), where you can try ice cream flavours such as Cucumber and Marmalade on Toast, and we would highly recommend you do the same. When we're licking we're learning, after all.

Image: Postcards Home

So if you like the sweet stuff and are a sucker for culinary history, then head down to Scoop this Summer and enjoy the wonderful world of ice cream.

This exhibition is now closed