National Post (National Edition)
Putting pot into a pot
COOKING WITH CANNABIS ‘A HUGE DEAL’
‘I’ve been in the industry for 30 years. I’ve seen everything from the bar scene, the club scene, underground, aboveground, fine dining, fast food, casual, you name it. I’ve always felt that I’ve been able to keep a finger on the industry’s pulse,” says Amir Rahim, owner of downtown Ottawa’s Grounded Kitchen and Coffee House.
“For the first time, I feel like I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
He’s talking about the prospect of restaurants cooking with cannabis.
Recreational cannabis will be legalized on in a matter of days, but the legal status only applies to fresh cannabis, dried cannabis, and cannabis plants, seeds and oils. It could be up to a year longer before restaurants are allowed to offer cannabis-infused foods.
Still, many restaurateurs are already pondering the prospect of cannabis-infused menus, attracted by its growing hype but wary of risks and added management costs.
“It’s a huge deal. It’s probably the hottest topic around,” says Rahim.
“Cannabis cuisine is a new, hot commodity. A lot of people are going to flock to it.”
There does seem to be strong consumer interest. A 2017 survey published by Dalhousie University — with a sample size of 1,087 respondents — suggested that almost 40 per cent of Canadians would purchase edible cannabis food in a restaurant setting.
What’s more, the prospect of cannabis-infused menus is enticing to many chefs.
“The idea of that controlled, intoxicating environment — I can see that being appealing,” says Michael Radford, executive chef at The Whalesbone.
“A chef ’s job is in part to cook really good food for guests, but also to create a unique experience. You want customers, when they leave the restaurant, to talk about it, to experience something different.”
“It’s quite intricate,” says Guy Kramer, executive chef at Toronto’s The Green Chef, a company that prepares cannabis-infused meals for veterans who’ve been prescribed medicinal cannabis to treat their PTSD.
“I love the chemistry, the biology, the culinary, the recreation, the medical — cannabis-infused dining is something that I am passionate about.”
So far, legal obstacles have restrained cannabis-infused dining to private and pop-up events, such as those offered by Michael Magallanes.
Once a chef at Mourad and Aziza, two Michelin Star restaurants in San Francisco, Magallanes now travels across North America with his company, Opulent Chef, serving high-end cannabis-infused dinners.
“What I do is very borderline illegal. It really comes down to the fact that what I’m doing is for private events, at someone’s private residence,” Magallanes says. “If I prepare cannabis that they purchased for me to prepare at their home, I can infuse their dishes.”
His open-to-the-public pop-up events are held at private residences, are by invitation only (via an online mailing list), and are run through donations. To attend his Canadian events, a medical-cannabis card is required.
Similar businesses include Chris Sayegh’s The Herbal Chef and British Columbia’s Travis Petersen’s The Nomad Cook.
In addition to navigating legalities, restaurants have to be aware of the delayed onset of edibles’ effects, says Dr. Oyedeji Ayonrinde, a specialist in cannabis education.
When someone gets drunk or inhales too much cannabis, the effects are quickly noticeable, so it’s easy to spot over-consumption early on, he explains. Edibles, however, take much longer to kick in.
“When cannabis is ingested, it passes through the stomach and liver before entering the bloodstream. It can take 30 minutes to two hours to feel the effects,” says Donna Casey, a spokeswoman for Ottawa Public Health.
Because of the delayed high from edibles, Ayonrinde says many firsttime users unwittingly consume too much of the drug, sometimes causing unintentional overdoses. While he is not aware of any recorded death from a direct toxic effect of cannabis, he says cannabis intoxication can indirectly cause death, such as through a motor vehicle accident while inebriated.
The effects of edibles also linger in the body for longer than those of alcohol — sometimes even days, says Ayonrinde. That’s because the psychoactive components of edibles are stored in the body’s fat reserves, and released quite slowly.
Another potential challenge could arise if Canada follows California’s lead, prohibiting cannabis from being sold within the same walls as alcohol. As Ayonrinde explains, mixing cannabis with alcohol is known to enhance the negative effects of both intoxicants.
Rahim says he would understand if Canadian governments took a similar approach, although it would obviously hinder the financial viability of cannabis-infused menus.
“Prudence is a good thing. Let’s have a few rules in place, and leave the door open to adjustment,” Rahim says. “I don’t think we should have a constitution put in place and a statute of limitation preventing us from being able to make changes. But I do think some sort of rule book, even one that’s heavyhanded at first, is better than not.”