WILDGOOD VEGAN ICE CREAM

WILDGOODvegan ice cream

BY CAYLA VOLANDES PHOTOS BY KARINA MAK

I don’t quite remember the first time I took a bite of ice cream, but that overwhelmingly satisfying sensation has stuck with me nearly 20 years later. The respite from the summer heat as your tongue swirls around a chocolate soft serve; the fresh, palate-cleansing bite of a lemon sorbet after a long, exquisite meal; the pounding brain-freeze you get after just trying to make Jeni’s Texas Sheet Cake work in a Chicago winter. I have always been an ice cream aficionado: if I had to eat one dessert for the rest of my life, ice cream would be it. During my swim season in high school, ice cream and I would have a date every night post-dinner. Now, I’m still equally obsessed as I scroll through my Instagram explore page and cross reference ice cream shops with their respective New York Times reviews. However, as my friends and I scoured NYC on the hunt for the best ice cream (in my opinion, Ample Hills takes the crown), we would always lose a few soldiers to the lactose-intolerance war. They wouldn’t be able to indulge in Morgensterns, so, perhaps they would settle for a dairy-free, Van Leeuwen pint. However, there’s a new ice-cream brand in town for vegans and flexitarians to fawn over. Wildgood, the first 100% plant-based ice cream, launched in early April 2021 and has been taking the non-dairy ice cream world by storm. Founded by Greek artisanal ice cream maker Sotiris Tsichlopoulos, a vegan himself, Wildgood has taken off with eight different flavor offerings, including Chocolate Hazelnut, Pistachio, and Sea Salt Caramel, to name a few. While milk-alternative frozen treats have been extremely popular, Wildgood takes a different approach to the way they do ice cream. One of the best parts? Wildgood’s first ingredient is extra-virgin olive oil, a cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet and a key to living a heart-healthy life. With only half the calories as a pint of typical dairy ice cream, Wildgood allows you to finish a pint in one sitting without having those guilty second thoughts. At first, I was skeptical. I just couldn’t picture how viscous olive oil could be converted into a creamy treat. However, one day, as I was perusing the Whole Foods frozen section, I decided to try my luck with Wildgood. Gotta support a fellow Greek, after all. The product completely exceeded my expectations, without even a hint of olive-oil flavor clashing with the chocolate ice cream I selected. It was sweet, but in a mild way — I wasn’t dominated by the sense of saccharine that one gets from biting into a Snickers bar. The airy, smooth texture delivered a pleasant mouthfeel in tandem with bursts of strong chocolate flavors without an artificial after-taste. It didn’t quite taste like ice cream, but then again, alternatives never do. However, it was a really close second. Next time I’m aching for a healthy-ish snack or dessert, I’ll be sure to snag a tub of Wildgood.

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