Three Twins Ice Cream Pokes Fun at Ben & Jerry's With Organic Flavor Knockoffs

Though their containers still feature the same groovy iconography and pictures of happy cows, Ben & Jerry's isn't much of an organic operation these days—they sold to consumer-products giant Unilever back in 2000, and while they've publicly moved to ban GMO ingredients from their products, the reality involves a lot of loopholes and fine print. So it's no surprise that Bay Area-based organic ice cream makers Three Twins, who've previously concocted such stunts as a $3,300 "world's most expensive ice-cream sundae," saw an opportunity to celebrate their 10th anniversary by knocking off two of B&J's most popular flavors, Chunky Monkey and Cherry Garcia, in organic versions.

For legal reasons, of course, Three Twins can't lay claim outright to copying the Ben & Jerry's flavors, but there's all kinds of cheeky references in the product descriptions that offer clues as to their origins. Banana Nut Confetti is described as boasting "an evolved texture that you, my fellow primate, are sure to love," while Cherry Chocolate Chunk is a "long, strange trip...with a beautiful pink hue from organic cherries." The two new flavors are available in pint form exclusively at Whole Foods through June, after which they'll be rolled out to other retailers; Three Twins is also offering them at its six scoop shops in SF, Napa, Santa Monica, San Rafael, Larkspur, and the SFO airport. That's all contingent, of course, on whether Unilever, which already got itself into a hot mess by suing Hampton Creek over its eggless Just Mayo product, will take legal action. But if you're feeling badly for Ben and Jerry and their intellectual property, don't forget that they themselves stole a flavor from local creamery Humphry Slocombe.