I scream, you scream, we all scream for oat milk ice cream?
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When Maddi Easterbrook, graduated with a law degree from ANU, creating her own business that championed the future of sustainable food wasn’t what she had on her agenda.
Fast forward to the summer of last year, her small business, Future Swirl has melted itself (pun intended) permanently into the Canberra food scene.
As the name would suggest, Maddi’s brainchild doesn’t just look ahead to the future of sustainable and locally sourced oat milk ice cream — she brings it to life.
Classic flavours, including the revered oat milk soft serve — the first of its kind in Australia until proven otherwise — are topped with blends of hard choc drizzle, warm Biscoff and strawberry coulis that not only sound drool-worthy but importantly, don’t compromise on taste.
Maddi — who balances her business with her career in journalism — was inspired to create this unique gastronomy experience after following the lead of a lactose-free gap in the market.
“I went after the plant-based ice cream market in particular because, at the time, I didn’t like the options available. I was missing a really creamy, neutral, true vanilla ice cream alternative,” explains Maddi.
“I’m also really passionate about climate change, and it was during that time I saw how much of an impact our diet has on the environment. I wanted to do something that makes everyone happy, which is ice cream, but it in a way that creates the change that I want to see in the world.”
Maddi Easterbrook.
With a demand to bring sustainable alternatives to our tastebuds, it’s no surprise that Future Swirl quickly took off.
“I was thinking about how I could encourage people to choose an alternative to dairy. I came to realise that I just have to create a product that people want to have because it tastes better.
“Having such positive interactions with customers and going to these different events, which were so well received, has been really rewarding.
“We’ve also had so many women with babies or children who have a milk allergy, a milk protein allergy, specifically. What has been so nice is that my product is sometimes the first time a child is trying ice- cream,” says Maddi.
But behind these sweet moments, unfortunately, also lives the bitter aftertaste of being a young woman entering a gendered environment.
While Maddi was able to lean on her law degree to navigate what she describes as “condescending” conversations — at times, she faced invisible biases that flew under her radar.
“I didn’t expect to, but I have, unfortunately, felt like I have had negative interactions with people because of my gender and age.
“When I was younger, I definitely viewed the world in more black-and-white terms, and I thought any discrimination I faced as a woman would be really easy to call out.
“But as I’ve gotten older, and particularly as I’ve entered the business world, I have realised that’s very subtle and really unexpected. You can often be too on the back foot to do anything about — often you walk away and be like, ‘did that just happen?’”
Despite these challenges, Maddi has not had to face the sexist undercurrents that can run through the business world alone.
“There is a real push in the community to see more young women in business. I’ve had a lot of support from the Canberra Innovation Network — they have really championed me.”
“Connecting with other women who don’t even have to be in your industry but are like-minded, to create a community makes a big difference.”
Future Swirl is currently closed so that Maddi can focus on the development of her oat milk ice cream take-home tubs. Once distributed to local grocers (and when the sun returns), she hopes all Canberrans will be enticed to give them Swirl.
“We’ve had such big demand that we have started to leave the ACT more frequently to service in Melbourne and Sydney,” says Maddi.
“We are also focused on manufacturing our take-home tubs. Within the next two weeks, we’ll hopefully get them into stores here in Canberra.
“Canberra has such a fantastic scientific community that I’m also keen to tap into and make plant-based products more delicious than dairy alternatives. I want to grow Future Swirl into a big enough company to really pioneer sustainability in the food space.”
