London Café Is Selling Vegan Charcoal Infused Croissants And People Are Confused

In a bid to win the war against carnivores, vegans have been replicating normal food with non-meat related products. You can get vegan cheese, vegan meat, vegan pizza, vegan chocolate...the list goes on.

But Londoners have been particularly taken aback by a pastry that's been dubbed the 'most London thing ever'.

Behold Coco di Mama's vegan, charcoal activated croissant which apparently 'tastes better than it looks'. People on social media were quick to point out that it looks like it's spent a little too long in the oven - but obviously that's just all that activated charcoal.

The only difference between vegan croissants and normal ones is the inclusion of vegan butter and non-dairy milk.

But it's the combination of this charcoal that has everyone confused.

On Coco di Mama's website, it says: "Unlike a regular croissant, there is no butter. The key ingredients are Sunflower Margarine, Soy and Barley Flour, Activated charcoal, Sugar and Lemon.

"The alkaline properties of charcoal in the croissant help to detoxify any poisons in your body by neutralising excess stomach acids - a great breakfast for when you are hungover. It can even reduce bloating - who thought that could happen after eating a croissant."

A spokesperson from the firm told LADbible: "We can't believe how much attention the croissant has received. It's quite an unusual looking item, but we can promise that it 100% tastes better than it looks.

"We have sold out in most of our stores! We will have more in stock next week."

Apparently, those who have taste it say it's not half bad.

Plenty of cafes, restaurants and retailers are selling tons of stuff with activated charcoal, from pancakes to lattes. But is it all cracked up to be?

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center's Robert Weber told Men's Health that while it's great for absorbing some of the bad stuff that's in your system, say if you've had too much to drink or have been poisoned, it's indiscriminate to what it soaks up.

That means that if your body hasn't got many toxins when you ingest the charcoal, then it could start absorbing the good nutrients lurking around your stomach or even medication that you take for an illness or condition.

"Unless you have a toxin in your stomach," he told the magazine. "You're not really detoxifying yourself when using activated charcoal. You're simply binding the current contents of your stomach up with the activated charcoal."

Keep in mind, he specified the stomach, not the liver or the bloodstream or anywhere else - so it's a really targeted type of detoxifier.

He added that it can also cause constipation: "That's why we give patients potent laxatives when we give them activated charcoal in a poison control situation."

There you have it.

Featured Image Credit: Coco di Mama

Topics: Viral, Food, Vegan, Weird, London

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie