“To launch that into a vegan, it takes a lot of work, actually, to do that and to be just as yummy as our dairy.”

This week, Ben & Jerry’s launched its newest vegan flavor: Non-Dairy Phish Food in stores across the US.

The dairy-free version of the brand’s popular Phish Food flavour is made using an almond milk base with coconut oil and soy protein.

After developing the vegan marshmallow recipe for more than a year, Ben & Jerry’s have finally managed to recreate the same indulgent mix-ins including chocolate ice cream with marshmallow, caramel swirls, and fudge fish without the use of any animal products.

The certified vegan, halal, and gluten-free plant-based ice cream costs around $4.39-$5.99 per pint.

Phish Food ice cream

Ben & Jerry’s launched the original and now iconic Phish Food ice cream in collaboration with the popular American rock band Phish in 1997.

The partnership driven by a passion to protect the environment was a first for both the band and the ice cream creators.

While it was the first and only time the Phish licensed their name to a product, it was also the only time the ice-cream brand allowed outside individuals to drive the flavour creation.

Since its launch, royalties from the Phish Food flavour have gone to the WaterWheel Foundation – the band’s charity that maintains the environmental wellbeing of Lake Champlain in Vermont and a percentage of the non-dairy version will also go towards supporting the charitable efforts of the Foundation.

Ben & Jerry’s dairy-free range

Counting the Non-Dairy Phish Food flavour, Ben & Jerry’s now offers 16 different dairy-free flavours in the US including Caramel Almond Brittle, Cherry Garcia, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

It also offers sunflower butter-based non-dairy ice creams, which include favorites like Crème Brûlée Cookie, “Milk” & Cookies, and Mint Chocolate Cookie.

Recently, it released Change the Whirled– created in partnership with former National Football League (NFL) quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

‘Kept asking for more’

In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Matthew McCarthy, CEO of Ben & Jerry’s said: “Our fans want all kinds of different ways to get Ben and Jerry’s euphoric flavors. And that includes dairy but also includes vegan or non-dairy flavors, which we started, really, developing a few years ago.

“And 2016 is when we started to really release them. And the more we release, the more fans said, hey, for whatever reason, dietary restrictions, choices, awareness about the carbon footprint of the food choices our fans make, they just kept asking for more flavors.

“So our flavor gurus just got after developing more and more of our classic flavors. And Fish Food is one of our classics.

“And to launch that into a vegan, it takes a lot of work, actually, to do that and to be just as yummy as our dairy.

“But it’s about wowing our fans. We want to excite our fans and keep them really excited about the stuff that we do to keep our fans happy.”

• Read: Ben & Jerry’s just launched a new climate themed vegan flavour in the UK

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Mohsina Dodhiya

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