5 Chefs Who Are Breaking Stereotypes About “Weed Food ”
This story is part of the Healthyish Guide to Cooking With, Eating, and Truly Enjoying Weed in collaboration with Broccoli. Check out this story and more in their spring issue, and click here to read more about how to make cannabis delicious.
Weed’s ongoing legalization has moved the herb to its proper place in the gastronome’s pantry, sparking a revolutionary culinary weed industry flush with female entrepreneurs. Inspiring weed food magazines, chic supper clubs, a sleek oil infusion machine that could rival a KitchenAid in its utility, magical CBD golden milk elixirs, and luxurious recipes that would make Prosper Montagné proud are just a few of the ways women are changing the world of food and weed. Meet Megon Dee-Cave, Sarah Best, Joline Rivera, Monica Lo, and Christina Bellman, the women at the forefront of shaping the culinary cannabis space.
Photo by Jules Davies1/5Megon Dee-Cave, Oracle Infused Wellness Co.
Who: Megon Dee-Cave owned a Baltimore bakery and its patrons were seeking out cannabis. “I was a new single mom trying to make ends meet and needed to find a more discreet way to move more product.”
What: In 2016, Dee-Cave relocated to Portland, where the legal market gave her freedom to innovate and use her skills, leading to the creation of her company, Oracle Infused Wellness Co., which offers subscription-based organic, vegan, hand-crafted, hemp-derived CBD products including golden milk and infused honey sticks.
Why: “I get to honestly live in my purpose, helping people to heal, protect their bodies, and find themselves using this sacred plant.” Dee-Cave also works to help formerly incarcerated people with cannabis convictions by sharing her own experiences in legal expungement.
Favorite weed+food experience: “Sending everyone on a laughing binge while smoking a blunt for the first time ever and I exclaimed that the weed tasted like smoked ham."
Photo by Aaron Wynia2/5Sarah Best, Dirt Supper Club
Who: Sarah Best wanted a creative and social way to allow people to become accustomed to integrating cannabis into their lives.
What: Best’s pot-friendly supper club, Dirt, connects top chefs, high-quality weed, and adventurous eaters to experience cannabis through ephemeral, seasonally focused menus. Headquartered in Toronto, it has hosted a series of guest chefs that includes Tonya Papanikolov, Anthony Rose, Natasha Pickowicz, and Fabiola Escobosa.
Why: With weed prohibition lifted in Canada, Best is embracing the gradual shift in culture. “There’s more cannabis going around on Saturday nights. I like this natural format for people to unwind at the end of their day, and I’m excited for more people to share that experience.”
Favorite snack: “When I truly get the munchies, there’s pretty much nothing I’d say no to. But if I had to pick, nothing beats a late-night glazed Krispy Kreme.”
Photo by Bradley Murray3/5Joline Rivera, Kitchen Toke
Who: Joline Rivera, founder and creative director of Kitchen Toke.
What: When Colorado legalized weed in 2012, Joline Rivera realized that cannabis was the next frontier in food writing. Six years later, she drew on her background in food magazines and launched Kitchen Toke—the first nationally distributed cannabis food magazine. Kitchen Toke aims to reinforce the notion of taste as the priority in the cannabis kitchen through elevated recipes such as potatoes Robuchon and salmon en papillote with fennel fronds, lemon, and terpenes. Plus there are features on the chefs and people changing contemporary cannabis culture.
Why: “I can tell people all day long that it works, but until they decide to try it for themselves, their fears will continue to keep them from cannabis.”
Favorite weed+food experience: “The chopped baby cannabis leaves chef Derek Simcik made for us on set for our summer issue. I loved this salad—it felt like the healthiest thing I could do for myself.”
Photo by Sean Amador4/5Monica Lo, Sous Weed
Who: Monica Lo, a San Francisco-based creative director turned cannabis food blogger and photographer.
What: After a doctor prescribed painkillers for a herniated disc, Lo wanted to explore medical cannabis but her landlord’s building policies made it difficult. Then she realized that she could use the sous vide method (sealing food in an airtight container to cook in temperature-controlled water) and the Sous Weed website was born, showcasing medicated recipes ranging from soup dumplings to açaí bowls. “Sous Weed looks like a regular food blog, and I had fun doing it in a way that wasn’t perpetuating the stoner stereotype.”
Why: Food changes minds. “Growing up in Texas, it’s pretty conservative, and my parents being Asian, they were shocked and concerned.” Their perspectives changed thanks to Sous Weed; this year, Lo’s parents traveled to Amsterdam to explore cannabis without her.
Favorite snack: “Chicago Mix popcorn is hands-down my go-to munchies snack. The caramel and cheddar combination satisfies both my sweet and salt tooth.”
Photo by Aaron Wynia5/5Christina Bellman, LEVO
Who: Christina Bellman, creator and CEO of LEVO, the machine that changed the game for home weed cooks.
What: As weed legalization spread across the U.S., interest spiked in homemade edibles, but there was no easy way to make infused oil. “People were giving different methods and repurposing home appliances on subreddits. It was amateur hour,” says Bellman. She realized she had an opportunity, and set out to create the first retail machine made exclusively for infusing, LEVO. In 2017, the sleek, technologically driven machine went to market, creating a new, easy approach for home cooks to infuse cannabis, herbs, and even fruit.
Why: “It’s about empowering the user to do it themselves and to be able to control the ingredients they want to use in an easy way.”
Favorite snack: “You can’t go wrong with red grapes for a go-to munchie snack. Try them frozen for an extra crunch.”
