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| New York Journal, Feb. 7, 1897 |
By Robert Neff
It isn't clear when and how ice cream was first introduced into Korea but Horace N. Allen, an American missionary residing in Seoul, is a good possibility. In February 1885, he served ice cream to a couple of Korean officials at his home and, in the summer, treated Kim Yun-sik, the president of foreign affairs, to a dish or two.
Within a decade, the Western residents of the capital often served ice cream to their guests ― including Koreans. Of course, there were no places that sold ice cream in the 1890s and people were forced to make it at home.
Obtaining the ingredients ― especially in the summer when it was difficult to acquire clean ice ― was always a problem. There was also the lack of milk. Dairy milk was not a part of the general Korean's diet, so, in the beginning, most people were forced to utilize canned milk.
Judging from a letter written in August 1890 by Helen Heard, the daughter of the American minister to Korea, to her sister, the ice cream made at the American legation was pretty good.
"We have delicious prunes at the moment and ice cream when we wish. It is made out of condensed milk here at the house, but it is no less very good."
It is interesting to note that she cautioned her sister to not divulge this information to anyone else as she did not want to "gild too much" the living conditions in Korea. Apparently the missionaries had received some negative publicity in the United States for their fine living in Korea.
Ice cream was often served at Clarence Greathouse's residence in Seoul. Greathouse was an American adviser to the Korean court during the 1890s and often entertained Korean and foreign guests. His elderly mother, Mary, was especially fond of ice cream and strawberries and took great delight in treating her Korean guests to this comparatively rare summer-time pleasure.
"I am glad to say our guests enjoyed the menu especially the ice cream. It is amusing at times to see how very innocent [the Koreans] are of foreign things, I must say in a short time perhaps the most enterprising ones will come out in full blast, as they choose."
Yi Beom-jin, the Korean minister to the United States, was, if we are to believe the exaggerated accounts appearing in the American newspapers, "probably the greatest eater of the sweet and cold confection in the world."
As reported in the newspapers, Yi first became aware of ice cream while traveling to Vancouver aboard the steamship Empress of China in late August 1896 with his wife and pre-teen son. He was reportedly so taken with the cool treat that "he astonished all of his fellow passengers by the alarming frequency and proportions of his orders for ice cream."
His appetite could not be sated. When he traveled by train from Vancouver to New York he was responsible for an "ice cream famine." In New York, he and his family stated at the Hotel Waldorf where they consumed "dish after dish of ice cream at breakfast and before breakfast." Dinner was treated in a similar manner. Yi had no particular favorite flavor as "all were equally agreeable to him."
So much ice cream was going up to the Korean official's room that some of the hotel staff speculated that it was being used in a "strange Korean religious ceremony."
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| New York Journal, Sept. 10, 1897 |
By the early 1920s, ice cream was extremely popular in Korea and was big business. Vendors sold ice cream for 25-35 chon (100 chon = 1 won) which was fairly expensive when you consider that the basic fare (one stop) on the street car was only 5 chon. For some of the poorest people residing outside of the gates, an ice cream cone was about their daily wage.
During the hottest days of summer, a vendor ― in only two weeks ― could sell enough ice cream to support his family for the remainder of the year. It was a lucrative business and one that required a vendor's license but they weren't cheap.
A license to sell ice cream during the day cost 200 chon and at night 300 chon. If you had two employees, the price went up to 500 chon and more than three employees cost 1,000 chon.
Despite the high cost, in 1922, more than 560 people applied for an ice cream vendor's license but only 349 lucky applicants were approved. Of course, with such a lucrative market, not everyone sold ice cream legally.
Robert Neff is a historian and columnist for The Korea Times. He can be reached at robertneff103@gmail.com.
