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Vegan ice cream wars into overdrive

Every now and then something unexpected comes along and changes my life. My existence is peppered with random signposts, events and life-altering moments that have impacted deeply upon me.

One such occasion occurred last week as I was innocently trolling the Internet. I was casting an eye over the Vx website (as I had heard they were hosting a 2 year anniversary celebration) when I stumbled across an invaluable nugget of information: there is a new vegan ice cream on the market in the UK. My world was once again turned on its head.

The humans behind the new vegan desserts known as Bessant & Drury’s are wildly talented individuals. I can’t recall ever having been so instantly enamoured with a vegan ice cream in my life. Stunning doesn’t cut it. Would you like to share in my accidental, life-changing joy? Read on.

Bessant & Drury's

Bessant & Drury’s first made an appearance in my life during a visit to Whole Foods Market in Kensington. My curiosity had been aroused sufficiently by the Vx mention to ensure I made a direct line for the frozen food aisle. I grabbed a mini pot of the chocolate variety, noted that is was soy/additive/gluten free and headed to the upstairs dining hall ready to consume.

This vegan ice cream was so bizarrely-good on first taste, I thought I must have been mistaken. I was actually terrified that I had made an error as surely nothing could be this delicious. The chocolate Bessant & Drury’s made my taste buds sing. Imagine if someone could harness the taste of chocolate fudge, infuse it with coconut milk and then freeze it. Ridiculous and irresistible and a reality. I am beside myself with delight that this now exists.

Chocolate delight by Bessant & Drury's

Of course this first encounter wasn’t close to enough for a FGV.

I have since purchased a large tub of the strawberry Bessant & Drury’s ice cream. Like its chocolate relation, the strawberry tub was divine. It was creamy, sweet and eerily reminiscent of frozen yoghurt. I can assure you I will be increasing my familiarity with this dessert exponentially.

Strawberry by Bessant & Drury's

The lemon flavour I picked up yesterday was more of a sorbet. Whereas the chocolate and strawberry were both creamy, the lemon enjoyed a crunch. Delicious of course, but less an ice cream vibe. That said, I will be buying it again (and again).

All that is left for me to do is to get my chubby monster paws on a tub of the vanilla… and start the whole tasting process all over again. I’ve seen the future of the vegan ice cream wars and its made of coconut milk.

Visit Bessant & Drury’s Fine Ice Cream Co. online

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Written by fatgayvegan

16 Comments
  1. Will be heading to Whole Foods soon to try it!

  2. Heyup!

    I like the sound of this… could you tell us how much it costs to buy?

    Abi (a Twitter follower)

    • The small is under 2 pounds and the large is approx. 5 pounds. Enjoy it!

  3. I tried some of this today and although i’s nice i don’t think it is as nice as
    the fabulous Booja Booja ice cream ( particularly their Hunky Punky Chocolate)
    it’s just my opinion but i don’t think this is as rich as as theirs.
    I’ve tried quite alot of vegan ice cream and always eagerly try any new ones on the market
    but as yet i haven’t found anything that compares to Booja Booja.

  4. My current favourite is the chocolate mint from Boho Gelato in Brighton (also available at
    Pizzaface in Brighton) but the Bessant & Drury chocolate is a close second!
    I also tried the strawberry – I’m not normally a fan of strawberry flavoured things but this was pretty good.
    However I still consider Soy Delicious in the US make the best vegan ice cream!

    • I will have to try your gelato tip… sounds good!

      • I recently bought a large tub of B&D chocolate which was divine and decided to get another two which I had to get my local Heath food shop to order. The new tubs are horrible, I’m really disappointed. Has anyone else found the flavour and quality vary?

  5. I had the EXACT same experience, around the same time as well! I was in WF Kensington looking for vegan ice creams and came across this. Fell. in. love. The chocolate one I bought was made with coconut milk, so it had a divine undertone of coconut to the chocolate which couldn’t have been more perfect.

  6. I have recently discovered Bessant & Drury chocolate ice cream and I agree it’s delicious! I found it in my local Tesco which is great as it’s easily available 🙂

  7. Maria, I have never had a bad experience with B&D yet. Check that your health food store isn’t letting them defrost and then refreezing them. I had that happen to a tub of Tofutti once and it was vile. I would also recommend contacting the company if you think it is a problem with the batch.

    • Looking at your photo it is even a different colour – very pale. They were ordered in especially for me and collected on the day of delivery so I don’t think there was any storage problems. I think I will contact them and see what they say.

      • Are you sure it isn’t the Booja Booja chocolate ice cream you got? Not that I think that tastes bad (it is fab) but it is a very pale colour, not dark like Bessant & Drury. Hope you get to the bottom of it!

      • No, definitely B&D! (In fact the ice cream is even paler than BB!!)

      • Mystery solved – they changed the recipe some time ago after customer feedback. They moved from the dark sorbet-like texture (as pictured above) to a paler, more creamy one. Obviously my local health food shop was still selling original recipe tubs and I bought the last of it.
        The company were very responsive offering a refund as well as free samples of other flavours for me to try since I don’t like the chocolate now.

  8. Swedish Glace is another vegan/gluten free ie cream from tesco

  9. […] of the leaders of this surge is Bessant & Drury. Th company has been producing one of the best vegan ice creams in the UK for a few years and are now branching into the yoghurt field with their Coconut […]

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