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out this trend without having to worry too much about but it didn’t have the desired consistency, so eventu- products play on the market and in our daily lives
profiting off of it. Particularly in the case of O12, their ally they came to basing their ice cream on Thai co- would likely be reversed. The fact that it’s not hap-
Estonian-based parent company, Moloko Ingredients OÜ, conut milk. The different reasons behind choosing a pening can be attributed to many factors. O12 CEO
operates in the global dairy market, specializing in dairy certain base are understandable. Warm Ice builds their Ilya Kuznetsov says that the biggest challenge for
ingredients for industrial application. Both O12 and Icecro brand around raw foods that allegedly support life any vegan alternative producer is sourcing high-qual-
produce protein ice cream made with dairy ingredients, longevity; FRIKY and Sladenkii are striving to create ity ingredients. Ale Kor of Warm Ice supports this
targeted at athletes and those who equate a healthy diet affordable options for vegans; whereas O12 is working claim: with their brand promoting a healthy lifestyle
to eating certain animal products in certain amounts. with oat flour that’s accessible and reliable for larg- over momentary indulgence, it is important to use
The global vegan ice cream market is segmented er-scale production, and Icecro are trying to create a ingredients that are as natural as possible (and pref-
into coconut, almond, and soy milks. However, all the plant-based ice cream that’s “as delicious as our reg- erably certified organic). He went as far as to claim
local brands I spoke to use a different base for their ular dairy sundae”, as Bashmakova put it. they don’t use any “chemicals” in the production
product that doesn’t always correlate with the global process, and that includes – quite unexpectedly –
trends. O12, FRIKY, Sladenkii, and Warm Ice produce Technology, Innovation, and Production strawberries, watermelons, and other fruit that are
ice cream from oat flour, soy milk, cornstarch-based Challenges grown using aggressive modern farming practices,
cream replacer, and avocados, respectively. Icecro resulting in produce that’s low on nutrients. In both
representative Ksenia Bashmakova told me that ini- If making vegan alternatives was as easy and cases, using high-quality fresh ingredients is costly
tially, they started out with rice-milk-based ice cream profitable as their dairy counterparts, the roles these and complicated.

Plant-forward Approach

Being a vegan myself, I can attest that there is hard-
ly anything more comforting than buying from a local
manufacturer who is also vegan, and only produces
ethically acceptable foods. For Alexandra Irinovna,
co-founder of Moscow-based cooperative Sladenkii, and
a vegan of 14 years, using animal products has been out
of the question. Nina Titova, founder of the vegan con-
fectionery brand FRIKY, has a similar approach: “Since
I am a vegan myself, it is important for me that the prod-
uct is tasty, free of animal products, and able to prove
that you can enjoy familiar foods without the exploitation
of animals”. Ale and Yana Kor, owners of the raw vegan
ice cream brand Warm Ice, are aware of the detrimental
effects of animal products on health, and therefore strive
to make their products as healthy as possible, with eth-
ics as more of an afterthought. All three businesses
started in the last 7 years due to the personal demands
of the owners—at the time, there was almost nothing
offered to them as vegan and raw vegan consumers.
Meanwhile, bigger companies like O12 and Icecro
whose major income comes from dairy products, are
experimenting with plant-based options to get a larg-
er market share simply because they can afford to test

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