Many are the pieces exhibited in the School Museum of Pusol that attract the attention of our visitors: the huge red tractor located in the last area inaugurated "The years of change", the tartan, the joke products sold in the Drugstore Pérez Seguí, comics and newspapers hanging from the strings of the Kiosco Rico (the so-called "string literature"), etc. But an element that excites young people and adults -and some for novelty (and greedy, all be said) and others to awaken their fondest memories of childhood- is the cart of ice cream or, rather, the cart of the chamberlain.

Named after the chambis who sold ice-cream at the cutting or cutting of ice-cream, the chambilero was an ice-cream vendor; he also sold lemonade, horchata and barley, among other typically summer products.

The word "chambi" has a curious origin... It was the Americans who invented and industrialised this ice cream made from a cookie and a waffle cookie, which they called a "sandwich". Given the increased influx of American tourism in our peninsula -particularly in the Levant- and, therefore, the demand for these "sandwiches", ice cream makers incorporated this new product in their carts, which over time -possibly by a phonetic deformation- derived to the word "chambi". The novelty? That to make the chambi a small iron machine was devised, a mold that incorporated a spring, a handle and a handle, to calculate the thickness of the ice cream cut depending on the money of each customer/ a.

As I wrote above, almost at the entrance of the museum our ice cream cart receives the visitors/s: the authentic old wooden cart selling ice cream perfectly recreated, with the machinery of the chambi, the glass glasses, the cardboard spoons, the lids of the ice cream containers, the rag, the ladle to serve the lemonade... does not lose detail!

"Helados Parisol" is the brand of this cart, donated in 2008 by José García, on behalf of the Baltasar Tristany Festival Commission. Its former owner called it that because, years before creating this business, hosted in Paris, he missed the sun of Spain; once he returned to his homeland, he used that name in his ice cream cart.

Something that we highlight of this craft during guided visits of schools to the School Museum is the total absence of plastic, since the chambler is prior to its generalization. Hence, the glasses for the drinks were made of glass -which forced the/the customer/to drink their drink near the cart- and the spoons for the ice cream were made of cardboard.

Another anecdote is that of the small/helpers the chamberlain had. If he lacked ice cream, the/the child/ that helped him to replace it was presented with a free one.

The disappearance of this traditional trade was due, in part, to the appearance, sale and popularization of the first ice cream bars, as well as to the boom of fixed ice cream sales, which gradually were replacing it.

You know, if you want to reminisce or know this craft of the chamberlain, just visit our museum!

Author: Marian Tristán, coordinator of the School Museum.