Ice Cream: The Ultimate Cold Comfort

"The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a star," the noted gourmet Brillat-Savarin once wrote. If that's so, the discovery of ice cream must be worth a whole galaxy. And the name of the discoverer should be emblazoned in the heavens.

The trouble is, we don't know who made that first dish of vanilla, strawberry or triple chocolate chunk ice cream. That may explain why there are candidates for the honor all over the world. Some give the ancient Romans cr…