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?

Bought a massive tub of peanut butter. Literally no butter in it. Arseholes.

No one wants to fight you you know, paranoid much?

YANBU that they should be labelled more clearly. People can be allergic to soy and coconut. I’m allergic to bananas and I’ve been offered a lot of vegan desserts that contain banana.

But of course dairy-free and plant based options should be available for people who want them.

I think the law is correct. Vendors must be able to correctly confirm any allergens in the food or drink if asked. But they don’t need to display every allergen on the menu, it would clutter the menu too much.

Pear? Pear?????? @Natsku ? Sounds amazing 😥
Every week I have a dance of frustration at the lack of flavour options in the frozen aisle. I look at the all the different Magnum varieties and think would it really be soooo difficult to make these as a vegan option? I then go home with my usual vanilla vegan Magnums but mint would be fantastic but sadly it's an out of reach dream.
I agree with those who say dairy/gluten free Cornetto's are rank - they are absolutely foul as are any vegan ice creams made with soya or oat milk - almond's not so bad.
I always factor in the increase in fat/calories in desserts when eating out as I know that coconut has a high fat content so look at it as a trade off plus I'm eating out so yes, I'm going to have what I like! I have noticed an increase of semi-freddo as a vegan dessert (quite lush) at some restaurants but often go with a nice sorbet. I have the added complication that I can't eat wheat or rice either (even gluten free) so eating out is very complicated for me so I make no apologies for shite vegan puddings - luckily I can still eat steak.

Yes, but it can also be drunk by humans, as well as calves. I'm not sure what your point is?

@cardibach ‘

‘Vegans arent vegans because they don’t like meat. They are vegan because they think it’s unethical/environmentally unsound. Not eating meat because you don’t like it is a different thing (even if it means you essentially eat a veggie diet).’

Veganism describes what you eat, not why, and people have different motivations.

But if you think it is unethical to use animals for food, why would you want your food to sound as if it came from an animal? Surely, that would be off putting rather than tempting?

Sounds like you made a mistake once. And have decided it is the fault of all Vegans.

Perhaps just read the label next time? The tubs will usually be clearly marked.

@MummyWillow1 ,

I made the same mistake in a theatre on ‘mint choc chip ice cream’.

But why would you check? This is a very recent thing and it looks like I am the third person on this thread to have done it.

Obviously I will check next time, but it is misrepresentation.

We regularly have Quorn and tofu at home, and I like oat and almond milk. So I’m not anti plant-based. But some of the vegan alternatives are so gross.

For me, it’s Costa putting vegan shaving foam on my hot chocolate. You have to specifically ask for whipped/dairy cream to stop them spoiling your £5 drink! Cows breast milk all day for me.

Yanbu

i once went for a pizza. Ordered a veggie pizza because I liked it. I’m not veggie. Got the pizza which I had previously had a couple of times and it tasted really weird and not enjoyable on this occasion. Then I found that they had lazily turned this one into the vegan pizza and put fake cheese on it. Was gross and a crap meal out. Costing ££.

I really like diary products and get fucked off to have fake ones. I would prefer to pass entirely than have fake ones.

I agree, it needs to be properly labelled.
Calling something ice “cream” (or cheesecake, which I have also been caught out by) is misleading, which is, ultimately, dangerous.

I’ve seen it on menus with just a tiny little logo of a green leaf next to it - that’s not enough, imo, easy to miss if you don’t realise it might be the case.

It needs to be under a separate heading - vegan iced coconut dessert, or whatever, so that people can make an informed choice about what they’re buying - you shouldn’t have to ask!

Happened to me with chocolate. That was an experience 😂

Pear is the absolute best flavour of ice cream (and other things too, pear fizzy pop is delicious, and pear ice lollies and pear sweets, yum). They have so many different flavours of vegan ice creams in Finland, its definitely the new trend here.

Vegan means something about lifestyle, not just diet. In terms of diet they d9nt want to exploit/kill animals. Something which looks and tastes the Sam but crucially is t an animal is fine. Though, yes, some do find they gradually lose the desire to have something like meat. Someone who enjoys a good fake is no less plant based/vegan than someone who doesn’t though. Something being LIKE meat isn’t off putting, because it’s NOT meat.
As I say, I’m neither veggie nor vegan but I know quite a few who are and this is how I understand it. It makes sense to me.

Dark chocolate is normally vegan anyway. Nothing has to be done to chocolate to make it vegan, just don’t add dairy…

Yeah this wasn’t dark.

Don’t get me wrong - I have no issue with vegan food, none dairy etc. personally love oat milk. But I was expecting one thing and got another and it was an adjustment 😂

Noticed this too and it is annoying.

I know of country where it has to be called different exactly for that reason-no milk.
Edit to add, there are more actually

The vegan is normally clearly advertised as such though

I don't buy it for myself but my dog loves doggy ice-cream and in it's absence I sometimes buy her a vegan one. My understanding is they're very similar. It's the lactose in ice-cream that can be harmful for dogs and if course isn't there in vegan ice-cream.

YABU. People with dietary requirements now get to have nice things too. It's clearly labelled. Be grateful you have a choice?

Personally I feel like ice cream should include cream, but unfortunately that isn't how it seems to work.

The European Ice Cream Association, whose Code for Edible Ices is widely adopted in the industry (but not mandatory, I don't think) defines "Ice Cream" as "an emulsion typically composed of water and/or milk, edible fats, proteins and sugars". It's notable IMHO that the non-English equivalent terms (Eis, Ijs, Glace, Is, Gelato, Helado, Pagoto, Gelado, Glass) all basically mean a frozen dessert and don't mention cream/milk/dairy though they may have historically had those connotations.

There are other terms Milk Ice¹ and Dairy Ice Cream² which are explicitly reserved for dairy products, so look out for those terms on packaging. Even then, the definitions don't carry legal force AFAIK so ultimately you have to look at the ingredients.

¹ Containing at least 2.5% of exclusively dairy fat and at least 6% of Milk Solids-Non-Fat excluding any fat and/or protein other than of dairy origin.

² Containing at least 5% Dairy Fat, excluding any fat and/or protein other than of dairy origin.

I disagree that it is clearly labeled. Manufacturers are loving the opportunity to sell products full of fillers at a higher profit margin. The goal is to make the packaging look as similar as possible.

Remember that as we age it gets more common to need reading glasses to read smaller print. If you have a habit of grabbing a product and it looks the same, you might not bother getting them out to check if something is slightly different.

It’s actually a dangerous practice. People have allergies outside of the top 14. Not everything requires a large warning label.

Ok, that hasn't been my experience. I find things are labelled "vegan" as a selling point. Having a child with lactose intolerance I am very used to checking the small print as it's in all sorts you wouldn't imagine and goes by different names. I'm still going to say it's a good thing that my child can now have nice things that others take for granted and I think it's an incredibly entitled perspective from the OP to think that others shouldn't have that for the sake of her reading the label properly - a thing that some of us have to do every single time.