Beat the Heat on the ‘Nice Cream Trail’: PETA Picks Top Shops for Vegan Ice Cream

For Immediate Release:
August 14, 2023

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

As scorching-hot temperatures reach well into the 90s this month, PETA is unveiling a plan to help vegans, people with lactose intolerance, and everyone else cool down with delicious dairy-free ice cream by embarking on the “Nice Cream Trail,” a generous sprinkling of shops spanning across the Old Line State that offer delicious vegan ice creams and sorbets:

• Always Ice Cream Company (Annapolis and Edgewater) offers vegan flavors that change daily, including Vanilla, Chocolate, Matcha, Chocolate Peanut Butter, and Coconut Chocolate Chip.
• The Big Dipper (Hagerstown) offers a vegan Hershey’s hand-dipped flavor (such as Classic Cookie) and a vegan soft-serve flavor (such as Strawberry, Black Cherry, or Pistachio) every day.
• Cajou Creamery (Baltimore) is a fully vegan shop that offers handcrafted, dairy-free ice cream made from cashew milk in creative flavors, including Horchata, Sweet Potato Pie, and Blueberry Cheesecake.
• The Charmery (Baltimore and Columbia) always has vegan options available, with flavors that might include Cookies & Coconut Cream, Pineapple Orange Sorbet, and Toasted Coconut.
• Coffee Talk Cafe (Towson) has vegan offerings that can include Vanilla, Chocolate, and Mango Sorbet.
• The Crazy Mason (Ellicott City) is a specialty milkshake shop offering vegan flavors and a Holy Cow-Free plant-based milkshake (with vegan cookie ice cream, vegan vanilla frosting, a vegan edible cookie dough scoop, and chocolate sauce).
• Island Creamery (Berlin and Salisbury) has vegan flavors that include Mocha, Chocolate, and Coconut.
• Norwood Ice Cream & Candy Company (Eldersburg) offers nondairy Chocolate ice cream along with other vegan options that rotate seasonally, with summer flavors that can include Sweet and Sour Cherry Sorbet and Blackberry and Lime Sorbet.
• Pitango Gelato (Baltimore and Bethesda) offers Chocolate sorbet and other vegan sorbets, including Lemon, Mojito, and Strawberry.
• Sarah’s Handmade Ice Cream & Treats (Bethesda) has vegan offerings that include Double Chocolate nondairy ice cream and a variety of sorbets, including Pink Grapefruit Champagne, Strawberry Lemonade, and Honeydew.

“Customers are clamoring for ice cream that’s kind to cows, and more shops than ever are meeting the demand for delicious, dairy-free desserts,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s ‘Nice Cream Trail’ gives ice cream lovers the scoop on where to find the best vegan ice cream, and we encourage everyone to support these local businesses.”

The global vegan ice cream market is expected to grow by more than $1.5 billion by 2026 as more consumers opt for desserts that leave mother cows and their calves in peace, that are free of saturated animal fat and cholesterol, and whose production generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Shops on the “Nice Cream Trail” will receive a window sign from PETA along with pamphlets that show a trail map for all the sweet stops. Dessert enthusiasts are encouraged to print their own pamphlet and follow along.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, and offers a free vegan starter kit on its website. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.