Veggie Fair Time

Texas Veggie Fair hooks up with Earth Day Texas for 2014 all-things-green fest

Texas Veggie Fair returns to Reverchon Park on October 19.

Texas' largest celebration of all things veggie, the Texas Veggie Fair, returns to Reverchon Park in Dallas on Sunday, October 19, with a big new partnership for 2014: Earth Day Texas.

This year’s event, centered on plant-based cuisine, healthy green living, and animal welfare, has partnered with Earth Day Texas as presenting sponsor. It will feature vegan food and product vendors, a local beer garden, chef demos, kid’s activities and speakers from across the country.

"Earth Day Texas and Texas Veggie Fair share a common mission — to educate people about the importance of being environmentally conscious in their everyday lives," says Michael Cain, executive director of Earth Day Texas. "That's why this partnership is a natural next step for both organizations."

The Earth Day Texas festival takes place on April 25 and 26, 2015.

"Part of our commitment to the community is to help events and organizations like this find a foothold and expand on their mission," Cain says. "We'd already planned for Earth Day Texas 2015 to have a much larger healthy food component to the event, and hope that the Texas Veggie Fair organization can help us create something similar in our event."

Texas Veggie Fair founder James Scott said that partnering with Earth Day Texas would expand the mission.

"Their participation helps us to focus on the environmental aspect of the food industry and lets attendees see the impact on the planet," he says. "They're looking at the same problem, but from a different angle."

In addition to Earth Day Texas, sponsors include Whole Foods Market, Pinnacle Pro Media, Cedar’s, Hyatt Place, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, and Mercy for Animals, Peak & Elm Cocina and Bar, and Sylvia Elzafon Photography.

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Ice Cream News

Global gourmet ice cream chain debuts in U.S. with 2 Dallas-area shops

Dumont Ice Cream

An ice cream concept from India has made its U.S. debut, right here in Texas: Called Dumont Creamery & Cafe, it's a ice cream chain founded in Hyderabad that now has two locations in the Dallas area.

Their first location was Frisco, which opened at 1951 FM 423 at the end of 2023; a second location opened in late October in Coppell at 1535 S. Belt Line Rd. #160.

Dumont was founded in 1999 by brothers Vivek and Bhashkaar, and currently has 23 locations in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Vijayawada listed on their website.

Bringing the concept to Texas are local franchisees and friends Sai Sashank and Tarang Tirumala, who moved to the U.S. in 2005 to attend college.

Both have successful consulting careers, but craved a taste of home.

Ice cream is the centerpiece at Dumont with more than two dozen flavors, ranging from gourmet to classics to flavors boasting global influences: from Italian-inspired sorbet to a New Zealand-inspired honey ice cream called "hokey pokey."

There is vanilla, chocolate, and mint chocolate chip — but also unique options such as cake and jam, an ice cream with a vanilla base, bites of cake, and spiced jam; and kheer, a coconut ice cream studded with dried fruits and nuts — a nod to the kheer rice pudding that's one of India's favorite desserts.

A single scoop is $4. They have cups and a cute version of waffle cones: shorter and fatter than usual, to provide a greater ratio of ice cream-to-cone.

In addition to ice cream, they have a beverage program with coffee and espresso drinks such as lattes, plus boba tea. There are also special drinks like falooda — an exotic Indian milkshake with rose syrup and vermicelli — as well as limited-edition drinks like iced kheer, a cool beverage version of that same popular rice pudding dessert.

Both locations are spacious, bright, and clean, with pale green banquettes at Frisco, and pale blue chairs and tables at Coppell. Both feature an astronaut theme with statues and framed photos and cartoons on the wall. The Coppell location also has a mural dedicated to great moments in Coppell history.