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thatguystevene t1_jdyoxw9 wrote

Ben & Jerry's is owned by Unilever which has a factory in the Netherlands and its food and beverage divisions headquarters is there.

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ButtBlock t1_jdzh2oy wrote

Homemade and Unilever in the same sentence. Bold advertising claims on their part haha

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Squee1396 t1_jdzk6be wrote

There is a place in NH that sells homegrown ice cream and it drives me crazy, what are they growing? I wonder what are the requirements for something to be called homemade or homegrown?

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akmjolnir t1_jdzltr6 wrote

What brand? I'll eat it.

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Shadedavid t1_jdzlz66 wrote

Check out Sisters of Anarchy. I think they’re in Shelburne. They make ice cream mostly from things they grow on their farm.

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papercranium t1_jdzoipv wrote

Oh gosh, they are SO GOOD. They had a truck at a work event I attended last summer, and I still daydream about the super chocolate flavor, whatever that was called.

And they're entirely nut-free, so my coworker with allergies who never gets to eat at company shindigs got to have some!

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Galag0 t1_jdzpklf wrote

It’s really good but so pricy for that tiny portion. $6 for a Dixie cup.

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akmjolnir t1_jdzsoed wrote

If they have it in a nearby store I'll check it out, thanks.

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Squee1396 t1_jdzm1b7 wrote

It is good ice cream! I have eaten there a bunch, it just makes me upset the sign says homegrown ice cream lol it is in Walpole, NH i don't remember the name

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akmjolnir t1_jdzscmo wrote

Oh, Walpole Creamery. That stuff is good.

If they raise their own dairy cows, and use their milk to make ice cream they can claim homegrown.

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Squee1396 t1_jdzshni wrote

Homemade yes definitely, and it is good stuff i am not trying to diss them, they are the best around. Nothing is growing though so it wouldn't be homegrown right?

Edit: i looked up the definition.

home·grown

/ˌhōmˈɡrōn/

adjective

grown or produced in one's own garden or country.

"a basket of homegrown fruit"

belonging to one's own particular locality or country

So technically the second one would be accurate but i still think the sign should say homemade not homegrown

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akmjolnir t1_jdzstgi wrote

Cows grow, grass grows....

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Squee1396 t1_jdzt16h wrote

So my child is home grown? Lol looking at the definition i posted i am thinking it is the second one, about being local.

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akmjolnir t1_jdzthmm wrote

Friend, it's just ice cream, not a metaphysical dilemma. Enjoy it for what it is, and have a great day.

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Squee1396 t1_jdzu7c6 wrote

Lmao its just a conversation on reddit that came up about it, its not like i think of this sign all day everyday, it haunts my dreams and ive made it my lifelong mission to get rid of it

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woolsocksandsandals t1_jdzo50z wrote

Walpole Creamery

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Squee1396 t1_jdzo96l wrote

That is what i thought but i wasn't sure if there was more then one place and i didn't want to give the wrong one lol

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needathneed t1_jdzyo4o wrote

Walpole creamery is so good. I dunno if that's what op meant but dang is it creamy af.

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The_Barbelo t1_je1unod wrote

They explain this when you visit the factory. I thought all Vermonters were required to go on the factory tour?!?

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CharZero t1_je39btm wrote

I don’t remember that part of the tour. I do remember that I was there when they were testing out the brand new equipment for the ice creams with a flavor core or whatever they call it. That was pretty cool.

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The_Barbelo t1_je4ykhx wrote

It may have changed or been different since we both went but there was a period where they stood us in front of a big map that showed all the factory locations and distribution centers. Those machines were pretty cool, the best part was the free ice cream. Hahaha.

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71802VT t1_jdzqa2t wrote

Right, and Unilever is a French corporation so having a European manufacturing location would not be unusual at all for a French business.

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Room07 t1_je09foe wrote

Unilever is not French.

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71802VT t1_je11wt3 wrote

Yeah, I think someone corrected me and said it is Dutch?

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Room07 t1_je1grl3 wrote

Originally Dutch and British. 👍

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braqass t1_jdyp7o2 wrote

It’s made in several places. Vermont being one of them. The Netherlands being another. I’m guessing different flavors are made in different regions. They’re owned by Unilever so even though they still make some in Vermont they have factories in The Netherlands and Israel.

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Beardly_Smith t1_jdzkpor wrote

I believe they had a factory in Nevada at one point as well

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Babalugats t1_je0ebu8 wrote

I think it’s just 3 places. Vermont (x2), Netherlands, and Israel.

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JodaUSA t1_je0ub2j wrote

Oh God the Israel plant. I remember the first fucking day I worked at Ben and jerries (St. A location) at the daily meeting they announced that the company would no longer be selling to Palestine because Israel didn't like it. So fucking happy I left. Fuck Ben and Jerry's.

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Redditsucks42cox t1_je43vf5 wrote

Fuck Palestine, the jews were persecuted long enough and the arabs just multiply like a virus.

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Beardly_Smith t1_jdzkn86 wrote

B&J was bought out like 20 years ago dude

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needathneed t1_jdzyw5q wrote

Remember when they used to sell the goofs locally? Those were the good times.

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VTMike1029 t1_je038zv wrote

Those factory seconds were the best you never knew how much of the ice cream on the label you actually had in there

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Intelligent-Hunt7557 t1_je0l3ju wrote

(shrugs) I mean it was always ‘too much’ ingredients if anything right? We walked across that creaky uneven floor, reached into the cooler, grabbed one, paid our $2 and never had a bad pint!?

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GreenMtCat t1_jdyu511 wrote

What I would like to also know is why Ben and Jerry's is half the price in Montana when Vermont has a factory right here.

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parksLIKErosa t1_jdz37ww wrote

Demand.

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jimbobbrainiac t1_jdzk7o6 wrote

Who is still buying this sludge?

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JodaUSA t1_je0uiob wrote

I for one refuse to support a company that supports a genocidal regime (Israel)

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jimbobbrainiac t1_je1eqdn wrote

Say nothing about the fact that they ripped off the recipe from the UVM Dairy Bar and then sold out to a major corporation - but then they will sit here and preach to you about how corporations are evil. Guess theyre not so evil when their money is going into your pockets, eh Jerry? Eh, Ben? Hypocrites.

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ColLeslieHapHapablap t1_jdzqgpy wrote

I just did the price check at Ben and Jerry's for online ordering in Bozeman MT and Burlington VT. It's a ten cent difference at most, and the same price at most stores.

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GreenMtCat t1_je1wbfb wrote

I'll admit I exaggerated with "half the price", but I have Berlin Price Chopper receipt dated today for Ben and Jerry's at $5.49.

I also have two receipts from (coincidentally) Bozeman, Montana from last week (visiting family): Walmart - $4.48; WinCo Foods - $4.48.

Less than double, but more than $.10 difference. Wanna see the receipts? :-)

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Commercial_Case_7475 t1_jdzn9oz wrote

You should try Wilcox instead. That's made right in Arlington at their own factory.

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ProperPossibility802 t1_je0eg4s wrote

Wilcox dairy free maple is downright disgusting!

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Commercial_Case_7475 t1_je0s1uy wrote

I would imagine dairy free ice cream is pretty disgusting

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whiskey_overboard t1_je101vp wrote

Doesn’t have to be. People get away with bad dairy-free ice cream because it’s easy.

Some plant-based ice creams are utterly amazing. I’ll take them over most dairy ice creams on merit alone. That’s rare though. Also expensive.

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partial_birth t1_je01wgh wrote

I can assure you that the cookie dough at the very least is made in South Burlington. Rhino Foods is right across the street from Burton, and it's where all of the cookie dough is made.

I worked there for three days as a temp, and it was miserable.

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Loudergood t1_je2bdho wrote

They sell so much cookie dough they stopped making cookies.

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Intelligent-Hunt7557 t1_jdyynim wrote

Isn’t this no different than soda bottles which have corporate HQ info and also which bottling plant it was produced at? If the packaging changed recently it was probably in response to a law right? Definitely serves customers in general to know which country the parent company resides in.

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businessboyz t1_je0hf3k wrote

Most consumer packaged foods and beverages operate this way. The level of concentration of manufacturing and packaging is depending on the product ingredients and market demand.

Soda is easier to ship at the syrup stage. Make a big concentrated sticky goo and send it to bottlers located in a strong market who dilute it down into consumer products and package for final distribution which tends to be local. So you end up with a few HQ syrup makers and a bunch of bottlers

Ice cream typically doesn’t work this way because dairy isn’t stable over long times and requires refrigeration at a certain point. So a company like B&Js works to convert that milk quickly into dairy products that are more stable, like ice cream. But that requires a closer manufacturer and packaging network.

So you don’t typically see “local” ice cream brands with non-local packaging but B&Js is a global product hence the additional locations. The product just ended back up in VT because global trade is super complex and it genuinely may have been cheaper to produce that pint in the Netherlands and ship it to the US than to produce it in the US.

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sauteedmushroomz t1_jdyxnsx wrote

this might be a dumb question, but how and why would they ship it all the way the Netherlands? was the carton itself the thing made in the Netherlands? I’m not thinking straight I’m high lol

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FyuckerFjord t1_jdzowck wrote

They only ship the cow because it gives more milk per milking thanks to the conversion into the metric system. They avoid re-conversion loss on the way back to the States because the milk is frozen.

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walterbernardjr t1_jdzl4ah wrote

Unilever is a Dutch company

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_jdzm619 wrote

Unilever is a British company actually.

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walterbernardjr t1_jdzs2p5 wrote

Good point, I knew it had some Dutch origins so I had to look it up:

Unilever was founded on 2 September 1929, by the merger of the British soapmaker Lever Brothers and the Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie

I think the OTC stock is the one traded on the Dutch exchange which is why I thought it was Dutch.

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Room07 t1_je0a17d wrote

It is both actually.

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_je0oe5s wrote

No, in 2020 it adopted a fully British.

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Room07 t1_je0rpnv wrote

I guess it can be considered a UK company now but it's both a dutch and British company in terms of roots and origin. It's still considered both globally even though it's based on London. If I move to Europe in 2020 I'm not European. 😉

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CharZero t1_je0d7e4 wrote

I am not at all high and I had the same question. Since no one actually answered I looked it up. It can make financial sense because it is shipped in such volume. The actual shipping is in cargo containers that have freezer or refrigeration equipment, and can keep products frozen or cold on ships, trains, and trucks. The single carton of ice cream from Europe bought near the US factory could possibly be explained by supply chain stuff or how they have decided to split flavors for more efficient manufacturing. It might be more efficient in the long run to manufacture 10 flavors in this plant and 5 flavors in that plant and ship them where they need to go rather than all 15 flavors in each plant.

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FyuckerFjord t1_je2u5yg wrote

Hey! Whaddya mean "no one actually answered" the question?! :*(

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CharZero t1_je39yqi wrote

I sincerely enjoyed your answer. Factoring in conversion loss was a nice touch! But it is not, technically, correct. I do wonder if any of the components of the ice cream were shipped from Vermont to the Netherlands first, though.

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GimmieJohnson t1_jdzvyx0 wrote

There's two types of people I don't like. Those that are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch!

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Vtguy802812 t1_je0c5eu wrote

What you are seeing is in fact first hand evidence that in 2021 VT secretly seceded from the US and joined the Netherlands. I’m wondering how long until everyone else notices…

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JodaUSA t1_je0um9i wrote

This can't be, we still have so many suicide bike lanes

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rochvegas5 t1_je0eptd wrote

Because they sold out many years ago?

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SirAidandRinglocks t1_je21bn8 wrote

Because it's Unilever Ice Cream.

Real Vermonters don't eat sellout ice cream

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smokeythemechanic t1_je2j7bd wrote

Just like real Vermonters don't consume anything Keurig for the same reason.

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_je4dk9c wrote

We skip the Keurig because it is shit coffee. Same result, different reason.

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smokeythemechanic t1_je4dxgq wrote

Jhm holdings the Nazi money that owns Keurig controls like 22% of all coffee on the planet, so probably brush up on what brands that includes.

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_je4em2u wrote

Like I said, I don’t drink it because it tastes like shit.

We are really at the stage, and unless you are secretly a billionaire, where every cent we spend eventually ends up in the hands of a corporation that does shitty things and sucks.

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smokeythemechanic t1_je4eq1q wrote

Negative you can still choose not to give your money to people that should not have a cent of it.

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_je4j8n5 wrote

Do you put gas in your vehicle? Do you drive an electric? Do you eat anything you don't grow or see harvested?

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smokeythemechanic t1_je4jhuo wrote

Biodiesel, home still, root cellar, and research. Knowing who you are giving your money to is as important as who you choose to vote for, being ignorant isn't an excuse.

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_je4mckv wrote

You are on the internet so your device has a battery made from elements mined by child slave labor in a third world country. Your biodiesel had a precursor which was either sourced from a large conglomerate and harvested using petroleum products or do you only use fat from your own harvest to make it? Your self righteousness is refreshing but completely naive.

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smokeythemechanic t1_je4mlmh wrote

Doing everything in your power to be the change you want to see is in everyone's best interest

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_je4mt61 wrote

Nobody is arguing that. Only pointing out your self righteousness is naive.

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smokeythemechanic t1_je4ohe4 wrote

And insinuating you have to do business with Nazi money is ignorant

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_je4pmbw wrote

Ok. Whatever you say buddy. Whatever lies you need to tell yourself to sleep at night.

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smokeythemechanic t1_je4rod8 wrote

Lol lies I have to tell myself to sleep at night. Because I'm an informed consumer that makes decisions based upon who I'm actually doing business with instead of just blindly being complicit, that's why you said that. Nice retort, would you also say you were just doing your job working at a concentration camp?

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Overthemoonmist t1_je2ie7h wrote

If you want good VT ice cream… Strafford Creamery… expensive, but the best ever. I never buy B and J

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Jerrysmiddlefinger99 t1_jdzulp7 wrote

Funny thing my favorite flavor Cherry Garcia isn’t available in the Netherlands

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shaaruken t1_jdzxlqz wrote

I know cookie dough ice cream when I see it!!!

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PlasticineRobot t1_je057mk wrote

Hard saying. Maybe because they're owned (when I last checked) by Unilever?

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DaddyBobMN t1_je05l3e wrote

Multinational corporation and all that.

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Presdipshitz t1_je07ytf wrote

There's a great way to make our displeasure with degenerate capitalism known: Don't buy their products.

We produce what food and other things that we can, buy local as much as possible and look for responsible producers of the things we want beyond that. It ain't easy and it's never 100% possible, but it makes a difference.

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rmattoon t1_je0huti wrote

Hatchland farms in Haverhill NH is so good!

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carsenmeckhardt t1_je0lcbh wrote

Unilever owns Ben and Jerry's now and it is based in the netherlands. I've done security at the ben and jerrys factories in VT before and can confirm that the ice cream is made in vermont

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JodaUSA t1_je0uu0h wrote

There's a factory in the Netherlands too

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Odd-Philosopher5926 t1_jeaycvx wrote

Ben and jerry is about as Vermont as 60% of the people living here

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Loudergood t1_je2cmzp wrote

Time to move on to Island or Kingdom

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kinkyguyCT t1_je0293a wrote

We have to make America great again

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