"Ben Jerrys" news and stories

As a native Vermonter and notorious chocolate freak, I found my mouth literally watering when I read Brad Thomas Parsons's post on seriouseats.com about one of Ben & Jerry's newest flavors: Flourless Chocolate Cake. (Admit it, your mouth just started watering, right?)

A well-made flourless chocolate cake, after all, is chocolate in one of its most powerful forms -- rich, thick, dark, and generally fabulous. I was also buoyed by the flavor's description as Ben & Jerry's "chocolatiest chocolate flavor yet." Well, damn. That's got to be some serious chocolate. I was just about to make a run to our local grocery when I realized the small catch: This flavor is a special limited edition, and you can only buy it at Walmart.

The vigilant folks at PETA are really straining at the boundaries of good taste.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recently sent a letter to Ben & Jerry Homemade, Inc. co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, asking them to consider using human breast milk instead of cow's milk in their products.

How did this idea pop up? A restaurant in Switzerland decided to make soups, sauces and other delicacies using 75% human breast milk. If it's a good idea for one Swiss restaurant, it's good enough for a mass-market, (albeit right-on) maker of ice creams. You have to give credit to PETA for seizing a PR opportunity when it finds it .

"If Ben and Jerry's replaced the cow's milk in its ice cream with breast milk," wrote the animal rights group in its letter, "your customers-and cows-would reap the benefits."

Ben & Jerry's, which made a name for itself in the '90s by running its business on progressive, pro-environment practices, is one of the few mainstream companies that might even "consider" a proposal like this.

Unfortunately, it's got product to push. And eye-popping though this idea may be, it's not exactly lip-smacking. Putting aside the health debate surrounding dairy products, I feel fairly secure in saying that the American public is not likely to find the idea of human breast milk ice cream as titillating as the Swiss might.

But I could be wrong.

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