Gourmet pumpkin soy ice cream

Former co-owner of the Livity Vegetarian Restaurant, Deborah Belcher decided to create a soy ice cream for vegans that would broaden the smile on their faces at the end of a meal. Herself a strict vegan, Belcher recalls having a hard time finding an ice cream that really came near to dairy and can remember finding delicious alternatives only in her travels abroad, and even then the choices were limited. This set her thinking about the need to fill the demand for a delicious creamy soy alternative to dairy ice cream.

"Desserts for dairy lovers are so creamy," she shared with Thursday Food, "but somehow vegans and the lactose intolerant often have to sacrifice taste and texture for health concerns and diet preferences."

Deborah Belcher (left) and Oriana Cameron of Debz and Ranaz. (Photos: Garfield Robinson)

A partner was needed. "One," Belcher shares, "who really understood food and taste."

The search ended at the beach when she met Oriana Cameron (affectionately known as Rana). Rana was discussing the making of dairy ice cream. "I sold her my 'Soy' concept and she took up the challenge." The two have been creating, since September 2005, a truly premium product under the name Debz and Ranaz.

When Thursday Food visited their cosy ice cream production plant, the two were busy putting together a batch of stout-flavoured ice cream. "Mixing makes it light, fluffy and creamy," explains Cameron as she prepares to pour the mixture into the ice cream churner. It's the final process, one that will take 40 minutes of churning before sitting in the freezer for 12 hours. The gourmet product is made on demand and with the 'churner' able to churn out three gallons at a time, the two have had to work around the clock on occasion to fill demands.

Oriana Cameron pours the gourmet soy mixture into the ice cream churner

Thankfully it's the type of demand Cameron is accustomed to. "I always had an interest in the kitchen," Cameron shares. "My grandmother, affectionately known as "Mo", is an excellent cook, and it was watching her in the kitchen that really made food for me both nourishing and spiritually uplifting."

Indeed it has, for although not a graduate of a traditional culinary establishment her skills have been honed in quite a few kitchens around the world - at Fontana's Italian Restaurant in San Jose, California, The Good Earth Restaurant (across the road), in the United Kingdom where she worked at Café Materia whose slogan for life was 'Love, Life and Energy'. "It was a vegan restaurant and that was the training I needed for the Debz and Ranaz project!"

Ice cream churner

Cameron, no longer a vegetarian and a lover of premium ice cream, was the perfect taster. "My own taste buds had to be impressed and it took us two months to develop the perfect recipe for the most supreme soy ice cream. It was imperative for us to develop an ice cream that was of premium taste... I had to be convinced." She was and so were we. Belcher is of the belief that theirs "is a global product. You should see," she shares, "the faces of those who have tried it and keep coming back (I guess by now she has included us in her count). "Visitors to Reggae Sunsplash where we shared a section of the Ashanti restaurant stall, hailing from as far away as Sweden and Switzerland, were suitably impressed and complimentary about the product."

What's next for these enterprising ladies?
Well, they've perfected so many flavours that customers have only to share their gourmet soy wish. This, by the way, includes flavours like pumpkin, broccoli and carrot. Cameron is amused at the surprised looks on our faces. "I come from a large family and food of all types have been an integral part of our existence. Happy bellies build happy hearts and spirits."

There's no arguing that point.

Debz and Ranaz's gourmet soy ice cream is available at Ashanti Restaurant in Hope Gardens or you can place orders at 977-2736 or via email at debzandranaz@yahoo.com.

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