AIBU to be annoyed by vegan ice cream?

[hoffa]

I love ice cream. A nice creamy strawberry ice cream, or maybe a raspberry ripple, or just plain vanilla. I'm happy to pay extra for good quality ice cream.

But one thing that has irked me in recent years is the prevalence of vegan ice cream being sold just as "ice cream". This is especially true at the theatre, where little tubs are sold during the interval and no where does it say the ice cream is vegan. Its too late when you've forked over £5 for a little tub of strawberry ice cream just to find out it's vegan and tastes nothing like a proper strawberry ice cream from the same brand.

For what it's worth, I'm vegetarian and eat a lot of vegan foods. For things like sorbet obviously it's no problem, but why ice cream?

There's no cream in a normal magnum either.

I didn't say there was.

It doesn't generally say 'vegan' it says 'plant based' which is a big clue that it doesn't contain dairy/milk!
I'm really badly dairy intolerant (yes, proven through tests at hospital where I puked over the nurse's shoes within 20 minutes of being made to consume a glass of milk 😰) and actually find it really difficult to find 'vegan' ice creams. I travel a lot and found it impossible to find dairy free ice cream or lollies at motorway services/ shops over the hot summer other than orange flavour bloody Calippo's. I used to be able to have a Twister lolly but the bastards now put milk in it so they're out. Imagine the excitement of finding a Calippo in cola or even strawberry flavour or even a shop that has a vegan Magnum - bloody highlight of my trip!
I am delighted that if I go to the theatre I can get a tub of plant based ice cream in several different flavours other than vanilla choc chip (boring + yuk!) so that I can feel 'normal' like everyone else enjoying a cold treat that has been missing from my theatre trips for a long, long time. If only cinemas would catch up but they're all still serving dairy Magnums and B&J's tubs so I have to have an Iceee drink which my bladder doesn't thank me for half way through a long film.

Are you sure they didn't label it? Not labeling it as vegan would be counter productive, as those with lactose intolerance would still think they couldn't eat it?

I'm glad there's more options for vegans and people with dairy allergies/intolerances but do agree it's very disappointing to taste a non dairy ice cream. I got so excited when I saw gluten free cornettos in the shop but then realised they were vegan. Gave them a try anyway and almost threw up. But they are perfect for coeliac dairy allergic brother so can't be mad at them, just glad that another company does gluten free cone ice creams that are real cream (but lactose free, which has zero effect on taste but opens up to a bigger market)

Its ridiculous honestly! Just snuck in there

Its the same with lots of vegan foods

Nor do buffalo! 😂

Actually lol at fine ones husband being horrified by a vegan ice cream. I mean disappointed or annoyed, yes but horrified 😂😂.

YANBU.
Food should be labelled properly so you can choose what you eat.

We’re dairy free, ice cream made from cream is almost always called dairy ice cream, ice cream not made from cream/milk is almost always just called icecream.

I have a similar experience when seeing something vegan, and then finding it to be also GF!!

It's unfortunate that people tend to lump vegan and GF together, as they are not connected in any way. I wonder if that accounts for some of the reported poor experiences with vegan stuff?

You’ll lose your shit when you discover fruit and veg 🤣

I've never seen vegan ice-cream sold as 'just' ice-cream. It's always been very clearly labelled.
The thing that irks me about vegan ice cream is
a) the extortionate price and
b) the narrow range of available flavours

I love ice cream but am dairy intolerant so have to have the vegan option. So many times I've walked into a place and they have about 35 "normal" ice cream flavours and then the vegan option is lemon sorbet and that's it.

I sent DH to the shop a few weeks ago to get some ice cream and he was duped into buying a big tub of the vegan stuff because the word ‘vegan’ was so tiny on the label.

I was pre menstrual and irritable in the first place, but that really set me off!

Yes-and Heinz Baked Beans. What will she do??

Yanbu. I’m sick of vegetarian meals now being vegan too. I don’t want vegan cheese!

why, you grow your own ice-cream in your garden? 😂

Completely agree with you.

It taste revolting and it's also completely pointless if it's not labelled properly.

People who DO want it for one reason or another won't know it's there.

I’m neither vegan nor vegetarian. But I do think there are many very odd omnivores. On Mumsnet if not in real life!

It is amazing that you can’t call sparkling wine from anywhere outside the champagne region ‘champagne’.

And yet you have plant based ‘meat’.
Ice ‘cream’ which has no dairy in it.
Even vegan chicken.
And, of course, soy and oat ‘milk’

I don’t understand why meat and dairy farmers don’t get a proper copyright on the descriptors and sue the hell out of anyone who mimics them.

Also, it is almost like vegans really do feel like they are missing out on meat and milk, despite generally saying they don’t like them. Far better to call them what they are:

Soy protein and binding agents.
Dissolved oat grain with added enzymes.
etc

Do you mean I’m wrong or you don’t believe it?
Either way, that’s your prerogative but I’m curious.
I think, in a theatre interval scenario, when time is short and there’s usually a queue, the seller should clearly tell customers if the ice cream is vegan. It’s not the same as browsing freezers at your leisure

I mean, when my DD was severely lactose intolerant (she can tolerate dairy now she's older but too much still results in diarrhoea), I was enormously grateful for vegan ice cream.And- I hate to say it- I actually prefer it... I'm also slightly lactose intolerant so have often reverted to it over the years and I like it.
I'm also surprised that there was only vegan ice cream on offer... especially at a theatre, unless it's a much smaller theatre where they tend to cater for food intolerance much more than larger establishments.

Plant based should be the default. Better for the environment and obviously the animals.

If you want to eat ice cream made of breast milk may I suggest you make some from your own breasts.

We had this, large London theatre, sold as Vanilla Ice Cream, it is not cream anything and was horrible. The vegan bit was tiny on the pot, even the server hadn't noticed it. Now we check!

I imagine there's disappointment all round! Of course there's going to be vegans with coeliac disease who'll appreciate these options but they are lumped together quite often which isn't pleasant for non coeliac vegans or non vegan coeliacs.