I've seen Tofutti Rock 'n' Roll Cones in Holland & Barratt before and wanted to try them. But I never had because there are four cones in a box (too many ice creams for even me to eat at once) and our nearest Holland & Barratt was quite a long way from our home and our freezer. Then yesterday Holland & Barratt opened a shop in my home town, 5 mins from our house!
This, in itself, is a mixed blessing. Our town already has three health food shops, run by the same local people, all doing well. I love these local shops and buy lots from them. I don't want Holland & Barratt taking business from them (and I also heard that Holland & Barratt are owned by the same people who own the Dewhurst Butchers chain but I'm not sure if that's a vegan urban myth). On the other hand, if Holland & Barratt sell vegan things that I can't buy anywhere else locally then I'm going to be happy about that and shop from them as well as continuing to support the independent shops.
So yesterday I went straight to the freezer in H&B, looking for these cones. I was thrilled to find them and eager to get them home and try one after tea. Which I did. But I was so disappointed! The 'chocolate flavour topping' has the consistency of wax and tastes of nothing, except possibly wax. The ice cream itself isn't creamy at all and pretty much tastes of water. The cone is fine and just about makes the whole thing passable - but only just.
Then I noticed that the box doesn't say Tofutti anymore. It says Triano. Now I usually like Tofutti stuff (especially Tofutti Cuties) so I wondered if these were just a cruel trick played on me by some other company. But when I Googled Triano, it seems to be the same people as Tofutti. Shame.
I don't like to slate a vegan product. Vegan ice creams are hard enough to come by compared to dairy ice creams. But I think products like this just reinforce the misconception that vegan food is dull, bland and tasteless and I think that's a real shame.
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