I have recently moved to the UK for an internship in my university studies, and I am getting used to the new supermarkets here. I mostly shop at Tesco, since it is the closest (and biggest within reasonable walking distance) and I have been greatly enjoying trying new vegan products. One of my new favourite snacks is toasted crumpets with peanut butter, seriously – try it!

One of the things I used to eat a lot in the Netherlands was vegan ice cream, especially the ones from Alpro and from Ben and Jerry’s (and the occasional Magnum). However, the offerings at my local Tesco is a lot more limited, but I did spot Halo Top, something I was never able to buy in the Netherlands. It was £4 a pint or £7 for two, so I decided to take a leap and buy two, especially for after workouts. However, I was greatly disappointed, but let me take you through the product step by step.

The pros

The ice cream I bought is sea salt caramel, and you immediately see the swirls of caramel sauce when you open the tub. This looks promising! After leaving my ice cream in the fridge for 15-20 minutes, which is something I always do with non-dairy ice creams to soften them up a bit, it scoops like a dream. It is easy to get a fourth of a pint into a glass, yielding a reasonable serving for only 80 calories and 2.6 grams of protein!

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The cons

Now lets get to the next step, taking a bite. The ice cream has a nice mouth feel, but then, the taste comes through. And oh boy, it is not nice. It tastes bitter and cardboard-ish, maybe because of the large amount of artificial sweeteners that is used. I did convince myself to eat the rest of the amount that I scooped out, but I really did not think I could finish the rest of the pint. I ended up adding lots of peanuts and vegan whip to the top to mask the taste of the ice cream to the point where it was edible, but that of course defeats the point of low-calorie ice cream. Needless to say, I will not buy this ice cream again. I would rather have a smaller serving of a very delicious Ben and Jerrys than this again. On the plus side, if you want to cut calories in your ice cream, buy this; you will not even want to eat a little bit!

Have you ever bought a vegan product that was a large disappointment? Let me know!