It is no secret that marijuana induces appetite and is often used as a great reliever of stress, and in professional kitchens, where the hours are long and the work isn’t complete until every guest is satisfied, the need to relax after hours has often come by some mind-altering ganja. But today cooks say that burning sticky greens has begun to influence both the food and the mood of dining rooms.
Joanne Weir, a San Francisco cooking teacher and television personality who went to Woodstock at age 15, likens the green leaves’ current prominence to “a triple coincidence.”
More states are legalizing marijuana or offering medical marijuana plans, meaning more (and better) pot in circulation. Couple this with the fact that diners are crazy about high-end snacking–just look to the rise of food carts and the elevation of standard dishes like pizza, hamburgers and pork buns–and you can begin to see why the chefs of the haute stoner cuisine are just as obsessive about their marijuana as they are about olive oil, wine or coffee.
According to some haute stoners, marijuana gives them an intense focus and provides energy, rather than distraction. Much of the food of the stoner movement is well crafted and well executed by chefs with traditional culinary training, and the democratization of food that is part of haute stoner cuisine continues to appeal to the everyday dude.
Though trends come and go, the idea of stoner food offers a dining experience that is comfortable and familiar, and it seems the influence of drug use in the kitchen on dining rooms is here to stay.
[Via: The New York Times]
[Photo Via: ElPablo!]
