Vegan Ice Cream Bonanza

Let’s daydream for a moment. You’ve just come home after a hot, sticky day in the sun. Occasionally lounging in the shortbread-colored sand, you’ve been running to and fro the ocean all day long. Surfing and floating in the salty water has left you famished and ready for a treat. The only way to end such a perfect, summery day? The same exact thing people ages one to 100 have sought for fun, sweetness, and happiness for years: ice cream.

Perhaps when you were a youngster it was easier to find a creamy, icy treat in which to indulge. For those who have turned to soy- and nut-milk based dairy replacements, it hasn’t always been easy to enjoy such simple pleasure. Thankfully, it’s 2009 and companies have mastered soy, coconut, almond, hemp, and rice-based ice creams, which are just as rich and delicious as you imagine.

So now it’s the end of the day and you want to settle in with something scrumptious. You can always make use of the “Best Sundae Ever,” featured in our July+August issue: a base of Purely Decadent’s coconut-infused Vanilla Bean ice cream layered with Love Street Living Foods’ 100-percent Organic Raw Vegan Chocolate Spread and Soyatoo!’s spray-style soy whipped topping, all sprinkled with crunchy chopped nuts and finished with a Tillen Farms Maraschino Cherry. Or, you can always head to one of these stellar scoop establishments.

Wheeler’s Black Label Vegan Ice Cream Shop
Location: Boston, MA
Favorite flavors: Pecan Apple Danish, White Chocolate Espresso, Butterscotch, Toasted Coconut, Chocolate Pretzel Crunch ... it never ends
Toppings: You’re not going to need any with these killer complex flavors.
Store standouts: Everything on the vast menu is 100-percent vegan and uses soy, coconut, rice, or almond milk as the base.

Lula’s Sweet Apothecary
Location: New York, NY
Favorite flavors: Carrot Cake, Peanut Butter Fudge, Cake Batter soft-serve
Toppings: Marshmallow sauce, White Chocolate syrup, Ginger Cream Cookies, Cacao Nibs, Gummy Colas
Store standouts: You know that ginormous, outrageously delicious loaded sundae to which we referred earlier? Yeah, Lula’s is the place to recreate it. Do it.

Stogo Gourmet Organic Ice Cream
Location: New York, NY
Favorite flavors: Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, Coconut Banana Mango, Maple Walnut, Salted Caramel Pecan
Toppings: Hot fudge and Babycakes cupcakes. Yes, it’s completely healthy to have a side of cake with your ice cream.
Store standouts: You won’t find any iffy ingredients at this adorable storefront. Stogo’s goods are free of refined sugars, preservatives, and artificial flavoring.

Pattycake Vegan Bakery
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Favorite flavors: The ever-elusive vegan soft-serve, courtesy of Chicago Soydairy
Toppings: It’s what’s underneath that counts: ice cream comes in organic cones or biodegradable cups.
Store standouts: Almost too-perfect-looking-to-eat baked goods, like Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies and Classic Tollhouse Cookies may distract you, but don’t you worry. Enjoy the best of both worlds with a Snickerdoodle Ice Cream Sandwich.

MaggieMudd
Location: San Francisco, CA
Favorite flavors: Banana Rum Brownie, Coconut Pecan Praline, Peanut Butter Palooka, Lychee Coconut
Toppings: Crushed Newman’s Os
Store standouts: This ice cream is so good you’ll want to have it on-hand at all times—and you can! MaggieMudd distributes its Mudslinger’s Freestyle in pints throughout California. If that’s not enough, just order one of their signature ice cream cakes and grab a fork.

Scoops
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Favorite flavors: Black Sesame, Banana Oreo, Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar
Store standouts: Known for revolving truly unique flavors, Scoops offers a sweet deal: one scoop for $2.50. The sweet part? One scoop in Scoops language is really two scoops.