Vegan News of the Week: Serena Williams’ and Magic Johnson’s Cookies, Dry January Häagen-Dazs Smoothies, and More

In the spirit of Veganuary, Ike’s Love and Sandwiches is offering an array of unique vegan sandwiches, including the tantalizing Mel-lo Kitty. 

For Dry January, Häagen-Dazs is reintroducing a range of smoothies, all of which can be ordered vegan with an extra scoop of sorbet.

Maya’s Cookies is already looking forward to February as the vegan bakery gears up for Black History Month with a special cookie menu honoring iconic athletes such as Serena Williams and Magic Johnson.

Vegan restaurant news

We’re smack dab in the middle of Veganuary and at California-based chain Ike’s Love and Sandwiches, that means lots of vegan sandwich options, including the Mel-lo Kitty, a sandwich that is anything but mellow. It’s got vegan chicken, zesty orange glaze, avocado, vegan cheese, and vegan dirty sauce. 

Ike’s Love and Sandwiches

Other options are the Vegan Get Diggie With It with vegan bulgogi and mushrooms, the Vegan Litacanrana with vegan chicken and wasabi mayo, the Vegan Mack Daddy featuring vegan meatloaf, and the Vegan Meatless Mike known for its vegan meatballs and marinara.

With the holidays behind us, Cinnaholic locations across the US just launched its new winter menu items, available through March 4. The two new rolls on the menu are the Raspberry Cheesecake Swirl Roll, which features the original vegan cinnamon roll with creamy raspberry frosting, topped with pie crumble, cheesecake swirl, and raspberry jam.

Cinnaholic

The Maple Mocha Roll, on the other hand, combines the original vegan cinnamon roll with maple mocha frosting, adorned with cocoa crunchies, maple syrup, coffee dust, and powdered sugar. 

For many, a toasty latte is the best way to chase away the winter blues. Luckily over at coffeehouse chain The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, customers can now enjoy a creamy, milk alternative with the introduction of Oatly Barista Edition at all 180 locations throughout the United States. To celebrate Oatly’s entry, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is offering a new limited-time, seasonal beverage: the Vanilla Spiced Oat Latte. 

This beverage, designed to chase away winter chills, features a distinct flavor profile that blends the warmth of spiced ingredients with the creamy richness of vanilla, encouraging customers to explore new horizons in flavor.

Vegan health news

January is a time for focusing on health and wellness, a sentiment shared by elite athletes like undefeated UFC Welterweight fighter Ian Machado Garry. 

Garry has recently partnered with Vegain, a vegan sports nutrition company, to emphasize the benefits of plant-based nutrition in elite sports. 

“Choosing a plant-based diet was strategic for keeping my body in top condition,” Garry said in a statement. “Vegain’s supplements support this choice by helping me train harder, recover faster, and perform better.”

This endorsement with Vegain, known for its high-quality, eco-conscious plant-based supplements, underscores Garry’s commitment to his vegan lifestyle and his focus on optimal performance.

Have you seen You Are What You Eat or How to Live to 100 on Netflix? If so, you know that it’s no secret that a plant-based diet is the key to a longer, healthier life. In fact, a recent study showed that eating this way can add up to 10 years to your life. 

These findings inspired vegan chain Next Level Burger (NLB) to focus this month (and through February) on superfoods. In line with the “New Year, New You” trend, the chain is running a Live, Laugh, Longer campaign, highlighting superfood ingredients with functional health benefits. 

Next Level Burger

The campaign features the Blue Zones Burger, made with a signature mushroom and quinoa patty, smoky tempeh bacon, and organic ingredients like avocado, pickles, and micro greens, and the Superfood Smoothie Shake, a blend of organic fruits, chia seeds, cashew yogurt, and pumpkin seed protein. 

Additionally, each purchase from the Superfood Duo comes with a plant-based tips and tricks card from Cierra de Gruyter, NLB’s co-founder and Chief Vision Officer, offering guidance on preparing plant-based, superfood meals at home and a chance to win a $500 plant-based kitchen giveaway.

Lastly, if you’re a fan of Quaker Oats, we’ve got a little bad news for you as some of its products have been recalled due to a salmonella scare, including vegan ones such as Cap’n Crunch Instant Oatmeal and Cap’n Crunch Sea Berry Crunch Cereal. 

Luckily, its oats (in regular and instant varieties) are not part of the recall, which means hearty oatmeal bowls are still on the table for breakfast. Be sure to check the Quaker Oats website for detailed information on the recall. 

Vegan food news

Häagen-Dazs is doing Dry January with a slew of smoothies. The lineup, available until March 31 at its shops nationwide, features Aloha Mango, Strawberry Banana, Wildberry, Pomegranate Berry, and the new Strawberry Mango flavor. 

Häagen-Dazs

Each smoothie combines Häagen-Dazs’ signature sorbet with vanilla ice cream and fruit, offering a refreshing dessert experience. Each can be made vegan by subbing an extra scoop of sorbet instead of the ice cream. 

“With the holidays behind us, consumers tend to lean toward items that are fresher and better for you, but when it comes to dessert, Häagen-Dazs Shops offer a unique experience that incorporates real fruit into a dessert you can feel good about indulging in,” Rachel Jaiven, Häagen-Dazs Marketing Director, said in a statement. 

“Each dessert brings a refreshing and smooth flavor profile, elevating your smoothie experience like never before,” Jaiven said. 

On another sweet note, US-based vegan honey producer MeliBio, has teamed up with Narayan Foods to introduce bee-free honey at ALDI-owned Hofer stores. This plant-based honey, branded as Vegan Hanny under Hofer’s Just Veg! line, will first be available in Austria and Switzerland, with plans to expand to other European countries. 

This partnership follows the successful collaboration in 2022 to launch bee-free honey in 75,000 European retail stores under the Better Foodie Vegan H*ney name.

While the month of January is still going strong with its calls to be more health-conscious around drinking and eating. However, vegan bakery Maya’s Cookies is already preparing for Black History Month (February) with a tasty special menu dedicated to some of the greatest athletes of all time.

The San Diego-based, Black-owned vegan cookie company will launch three brand-new cookie flavors inspired by Florence Griffith Joyner (Flo-Jo), Serena Williams, and Magic Johnson. 

Maya’s Cookies

The Trailblazer is a vanilla bean butter rum cookie with toffee, cinnamon, and gold sparkle, inspired by Flo-Jo’s style. The Grand Slam, a chocolate dough cookie filled with cookie butter, dark chocolate, and marshmallow, topped with vanilla-infused sea salt, was created to honor tennis legend Serena Williams. 

And The MVP, a brown sugar cookie loaded with chocolate and caramel chips, pecans, and coconut, enveloped in caramelized vegan condensed milk, celebrates Magic Johnson’s NBA legacy.