Nearly 30 cannabis companies and 200 eager guests gathered over the weekend at the Venue at Three Petals in Huntington Beach for Culinary and Cannabis—OC’s first marijuana-infused food and wine event. The concept was to showcase that it’s possible to use cannabis in gourmet meals without lessening the integrity of the food. But it also extended to more than just solid foods. There were vendors handing out cannabis beverages including CBD wine and effervescent mineral CBD water. Vendors sold eggless, pre-made medicated cookie dough, offered sign-up forms for marijuana subscription boxes, and handed out samples of cannabis infused topical products.
The celebration kicked off with a cooking competition. 10 chefs created an array of dishes, from medicated pizza, to vegetable and fruit stuffed pastries to seafood, while three judges tasted every plate. A young female host announced the competition to those watching. “There’s 170 mg of THC in that plate,” she says to the panel of judges, as they looked over at her with caution across their faces. “You’re about to be very high in a few minutes,” she said with a smile from ear to ear. The crowd watched the cooking competition and giggled amongst themselves as they waited in anticipation as the judges provided feedback.
While the cooking competition took place, the main room was just as busy with people exploring each vending station. The Farmaceuticals Company, the topical company that uses organic, whole plant cannabis to make their products, travelled all the way from Big Sur to make the event. One of the owners explained that Culinary and Cannabis couldn’t have taken place at a better time, considering she was evacuated from her house in Palo Colorado due to a massive wild-fire that’s currently devastating the Central Coast.
But perhaps the most mind-blowing vendor that had a booth at yesterday’s event was Club M: The invitation-only monthly cannabis subscription box. Yes—real, green fluffy nugs and related herbal products can actually be delivered to your house every month for $100! And the boxes the products arrive in look like a volume of spells that Harry Potter would have rented from the Hogwarts library. The boxes add a mystical, exciting layer to marijuana subscription.
Impressive vendors and delicious CBD-infused food aside, however, the event held more meaning than just providing a cannabis-friendly place for people to taste-test food and try products. Culinary and Cannabis created a new standard for marijuana events. No one there looked like a stoner stereotype. No one was, as the rapper Ludacris would say, “acting a fool.” Culinary and Cannabis proved that medicating with marijuana can be a hi(gh)-class experience with intelligent, intellectual people—a fine hammered nail into the pot-stigma coffin. On to the next one!
