Le Pain Quotidien sells cannabis bread: is it for you?

‘I’ll have half a sliced cannabis, please.’ Anyone who walks into Le Pain Quotidien might just hear this sentence. The bakery has recently added a very special bread to its range: cannabis bread.

And suddenly, a cozy brunch becomes very cozy indeed.

Le Pain Quotidien

Le Pain Quotidien is the bakery you used to encounter only during a trip to Belgium. Fortunately, the chain has also been operating in the Netherlands for a few years now. The cannabis bread is Le Pain Quotidien’s latest and most eco-friendly innovation. Founder Alain Coumont developed the bread in collaboration with Canbe Farm in Walloon Brabant. What is the bread made from? A mix of hulled and unhulled cannabis seeds, flour made from ground cannabis seeds, sourdough and organic flour. Yep, there really is cannabis in it.

Cannabis bread

According to CEO Annick Van Overstraeten, the cannabis bread is ‘the result of our quest to take small steps towards a better world by paying attention to the planet’. The combination of bread—the flagship product of Le Pain Quotidien—and hemp fits perfectly with their mission. Hemp is CO2-friendly, a plant that keeps the soil healthy and a natural material that produces no waste. According to Van Overstraeten, cannabis bread is an innovation that improves ‘the impact of bread on the planet’.

Hemp seeds

The hemp seeds in the bread are packed with vitamins B and E and are extremely rich in minerals. They contain plenty of magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc and phosphorus. Your intestines will throw a party when you treat them to this bread: the seeds contain more than 60% soluble fibre and proteins that are essential for gut health. Delicious.

The new space cake?

Now for the burning question (and the first question that inevitably comes to mind when you hear the words ‘cannabis bread’): will it get you high as a kite? The answer: no. The hemp seeds used in the bread contain little to no THC. That’s the substance that gets you into higher spheres. So no, cannabis bread is not the new space cake.

Bouncing off to Le Pain Quotidien

Are you already bouncing with excitement at the thought of cannabis bread? For €6.75, you can get a whole loaf at Le Pain Quotidien. It’s available at all 54 locations, including the branches in Amsterdam and Amstelveen. And if you don’t live near a Le Pain Quotidien or you’re not much of a bread fan (but you are a cannabis fan), we still have some great tips for baking with weed.

Also read:

• Why cooking with weed oil is a very bad idea
• Cannabis beer: not high, but relaxed
• CBD Sriracha exists—for a double kick

Image: Rianne Kleijntjens