Ben & Jerry's Scooper Club
Some days I spend my time googling cool new places to eat, or trawling the streets in the rain in search of a tasty new vegan lunch spot. Other days, I receive emails from people like Ben & Jerry's inviting me to a candlelit dinner...it's all about balance (and basically food)...
When I learned about the new non-dairy B&J descending upon the supermarkets of the UK, I was excited. I asked myself; will it be as creamy? Will it be as chocolatey? I wonder what I would look like if my life didn't revolve around food? (An entirely different blog post right there).
Not only was I joining the King's of Ice Cream, I would also be rubbing shoulders with the (dairy-free) cream of the crop in the foodie Instagram blogger's world.
If you're a vegan/plant-based foodie, you are more than likely familiar with their work.
Pixie is a registered associate nutritionist (ANutr) (MSc), award-winning food blogger, writer, and speaker. She has a strong community following her affable personality which comes across in her blog and Instagram. Pixie creates recipes based on a plant based diet and her book 'The Wellness Rebel' is available below:
Gaz is truly pioneering. His vegan food creations are inspiring our generation to turn to vegan food. He presents approachable recipes through YouTube which have encouraged many a friend of mine to raise an appreciative eyebrow and exclaim that eating vegan food could be easy if they could east Gaz' creations everyday! With a cook book now available, it is now even easier to recreate his dishes in the comfort of your own home:
The Scooper Club event started with a range of cocktails and mingling, and I was lucky to find a moment to chat to our hosts for the evening. It was such a pleasure to meet them in person and take the below cheesy selfie.
Ben and Jerry did a wonderful job decking out the studio space at Carousel in London which could easily have been a wedding breakfast setting. Sexy balloons, pretty lighting and burlap jars galore.
Cheers to non-dairy!
A three course dinner awaited us. Pixie had developed the starter and Gaz, the main course:
The entire menu was created to showcase the ice creams. I was keen to see how the sweet flavours would translate into savoury dishes and I truly was impressed by the outcome of both the starter and the main course. Pixie's starter was simple and tasted great with a lovely sweet peanut & onions balanced with savoury buttnernut squash & pesto combination:
Peanut Butternut Squish Squash - Not a soggy bottom in sight!
The main course, created by The Avant Garde Vegan himself was an utter delight from start to finish. On introduction, Gaz explained that the sauce was created with banana to infuse a little sweetness without overpowering the curry spices. It worked a treat and nothing was overpowered. If you follow me on Instagram, you will know that I will eat anything coated in breadcrumbs, but believe me when I say, that every mouthful was as good as the next:
Krazy Katzu Kurry by Avante Garde Vegan - please sir, can I have some more?
The Katsu recipe is available in Gaz' new recipe book mentioned above - I am buying it for this recipe alone!
The final dish was...you guessed it (or read it above in the menu), Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I have definitely found my preference! Although I am definitely a peanut butter EVERYTHING addict, I have found love with another, much yellow and banana based treat.
Ladies and gentlemen - I give you, the ice cream to end all ice creams (but mainly to avoid dairy):
Left to right - Peanut Butter & Cookies, Chunky Monkey & Chocolate Fudge Brownie
Check out the new Ben and Jerry non-dairy ice cream range here. You can also learn more about Pixie here and Gaz here
Thank you for stopping by and, as always, I love to hear from you! Drop my a line and say 'hi'. I would love to hear your suggestions if you would like me to cover a topic. Otherwise, please let me know what you thought in the comments below.
Love,
Kim
