Vanillas ice cream

Kakigōri is a Japanese dessert made with ice and flavoured syrup. The origins of kakigōri date back to the Heian period in Japanese history, when blocks of ice saved during the colder months would be shaved and served with sweet syrup to the Japanese aristocracy during the summer.[8] Kakigōri's origin is referred to in The Pillow Book, a book of observations written by Sei Shōnagon, who served the Imperial Court during the Heian period.[9][10]

The earliest known written process to artificially make ice cream is known not from culinary texts but from the 13th-century writings of Arab historian Ibn Abi Usaybi'a in his book Kitab Uyun al-anba fi tabaqat-al-atibba (Book of Sources of Information on the Classes of Physicians) concerning medicine, in which Ibn Abu Usaybi'a attributes the process to an even older author, Ibn Bakhtawayhi, of whom nothing is known.

Ice cream may be served in dishes, eaten with a spoon, or licked from edible wafer ice cream cones held by the hands as finger food. Ice cream may be served with other desserts—such as cake or pie—or used as an ingredient in cold dishes—like ice cream floats, sundaes, milkshakes, and ice cream cakes—or in baked items such as Baked Alaska.