But Steve Herrell, of Steve's Ice Cream, said he is not worried. "It's not going to affect me," Herrell said.

Local ice cream sellers expressed anger at Bic's claim of selling "the only natural and best ice cream in Boston." "That's full of shit," said Fred Mojaver, owner of Fred's Ice Cream Shops in Cambridge and Boston. Lessard defended Bic's claim, but acknowledged that identically natural ice cream was on sale at Brigham's stores throughout the Boston area.

The manager believes that the state unfairly singled out Bic's for censure. Lessard said that there is no precise or legal definition of "natural" or "homemade" and that even Steve's and Kelly's use a "pre-made commercial ice cream mix."

Steve Herrell acknowledged that he uses a mix--manufactured by Hood's--but he hastened to explain: "This is not a powder, it's a fresh liquid, delivered four times a week and kept under refrigeration."

Herrell said that the "secret of my ice and salt freezer" and "my own hardening process" make Steve's ice cream different than any other in the Boston area. "The ultimate test is how its tastes," said Herrell, and he can tell the difference "very easily." Steve's ice cream is "of course" the best, Herrell said yesterday, "and so is our hot fudge and whipped cream."

But Herrell is considering switching from Hood's to a small dairy in Vermont for his mix. "It's not good business for a small place like mine to deal with such a large dairy," Herrell said. "People begin to think, oh, it's just Hood's ice cream--which is not true."

Ellen Kolemainen, spokesman for Kelley's Homemade Ice Cream in Boston, said on Wednesday that Kelley's uses a Hood's mix like Steve's. Kolemainen said that the mix contains butterfat cream, milk and a stabilizer--sodium algenate--to keep the milk and cream from separating. Because of Boston health regulations about pasteurization, she said, it would be "very difficult" for any small store to make its own mix.

But Kolemainen maintains that Kelley's essentially makes its own ice cream. "All we're buying is the raw ingredients," she said. Kolemainen called Kelley's she best ice cream in Boston. "Steve's is the only one that comes close," she said, "but ours is a little less grainy and a little firmer." And, she added conspiratorially, "we think he overflavors."

***

Tuesday evening Joe Grimes, president of Brigham's Inc., came to Bic's to answer questions and reassure the customers. Grimes appeared tan and fit, wearing double-knit navy slacks, a brown tie and Wallabies. When this reporter and a Crimson photographer turned out to be Grimes' only listeners, the executive related and began to reminisce. He described how he first encountered "the natural thing" while working for a supermarket in California, and how he became convinced that Brigham's could develop a natural ice cream without "putting down our main product." Shaking his head sadly, he decried the recent trend among some students denigrating large businesses.

As Grimes talked, Jeff Lessard, looking more out-of-breath schlemiel than on-the-move capitalist, in his work clothes and half-grown moustache, ambled over Bic's and Brigham's, the natural next to the corporate. Grimes put his arm around his employee's shoulder. "Someday," he said, smiling to the camera, "someday this man is going to take my job."