Marijuana is moving into the mainstream: the first
medical marijuana commercial aired on television,
Prop 19 is at the top of the ballot in California, and pot is the latest ingredient fascination in the culinary world. From the main course to dessert, cannabis is finding its way into a varied array of cuisines.
Cannabis Catering: No longer restricted to getting "baked" in a batch of brownies, pot has found a place in everything from mashed potatoes to tri-tip, thanks to a
San Francisco-based caterer specializing in gourmet
marijuana-laced cuisine. Started by professional Chef Frederick Nesbitt, the cannabis catering business was born out of necessity when his friend's mother was battling cancer and needed an alternative to smoking to relieve her symptoms. The one-time personal chef began adding weed (organic and medicinal, of course) to his recipes, and now offers four to five-course meals laced with it. While many may be curious about hiring Nesbitt to concoct a menu for their next dinner party, he will only cook for medical marijuana card carriers. But if you are certified, we hear the pot roast is delicious. (Sorry, we couldn't help ourselves.)
High Times Cookbook: For all the DIY'ers out there, cooking with cannabis is not out of reach. Publishers Marketplace
recently announced that
High Times will be releasing The Official High Times Cannabis Cookbook. (That's right, a pot cookbook with "official" in the title.) Having just hosted the first
High Times Medical Cannabis Cup in San Francisco this summer, where edibles played a prominent role, releasing a cookbook seems like a logical next step in the counterculture rag's foray into, um, high cuisine. Although a release date has yet to be set and details are vague, we envision the cookbook offering up recipes that lean more gourmet than half-baked. That said, cooking with pot still seems counterproductive to us. Who wants a case of the
munchies after cooking and eating a homemade meal?
Pot Ice Cream: Stoners have been making
homemade weed-infused foods for years, but commercialized marijuana edibles are only just catching on. Couple that with the fact that, even as summer turns to fall and we pack away our
zinc for another year,
ice cream remains as popular as ever, and you have Santa Cruz-based medicinal sweet shop
Crème De Canna's pot-infused "high scream" treats, which are now available to card carrying patients. Not your average ice cream and certainly not for everyone, a selection of three different flavors (Banannabis Foster, Straw-Mari Cheesecake and TRIPle Fudge Brownie), affords patients who rely on marijuana for pain relief a tasty way to medicate. Store owner Jonathan Kolodinski plans to add more flavors, including vegan ice cream and sorbets, to his menu in the future.
