Ben & Jerry’s co-founder goes solo with Palestine-inspired ice cream

Ben Cohen, co-founder of ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s, says parent company Unilever prevented the firm from releasing a flavour meant to show “solidarity with Palestine”.

Cohen revealed he will move forward independently with the project, creating the flavour under his own activist label, Ben’s Best, which he uses to spotlight social and political causes that Ben & Jerry’s can no longer address publicly.

Ben and Jerry’s is famous for its outspoken stance on political and humanitarian issues, and also has a long history of activism, including taking positions on the Israel-Gaza conflict, a report by BBC said. A few weeks ago, the other co-founder Jerry Greenfield, stepped down from his role as the company’s brand ambassador after a fallout with Unilever over the ice cream brand’s stance on the Gaza conflict.

“Jerry has a big heart, and this conflict with Unilever was breaking it,” Cohen had said at the time. “My heart tells me to keep fighting from within, to restore the independence and the values Ben & Jerry’s was founded on more than 40 years ago.”

Now, Cohen’s remarks mark another chapter in the ongoing dispute between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever, which acquired the Vermont-based ice cream maker in 2000. The co-founders have accused Unilever and its subsidiary Magnum of unlawfully restricting the brand’s ability to pursue its “social mission.”

In a video posted on social media on Tuesday, Cohen announced plans to create a watermelon-flavoured sorbet, inviting the public to help name the dessert and suggest ingredients. The watermelon, he noted, has become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity because its red, green, black, and white colours mirror the Palestinian flag.

“I’m doing what they couldn’t,” Cohen said from his kitchen. “I’m making a watermelon ice cream that calls for permanent peace in Palestine and repairing the damage that’s been done there.”

In 2021, Ben & Jerry’s drew headlines for halting sales in Israeli-occupied territories, a decision Unilever later circumvented by selling the brand’s Israeli business to a local licensee.

Cohen said his new “activist flavour” will be part of a broader series of desserts addressing issues that Unilever has prevented Ben & Jerry’s from engaging with publicly.

Ben’s Best, founded in 2016, first gained attention with the “Bernie’s Back” flavour in support of former US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.