How Pot Has Sparked Change in the Food World
Marijuana culture has infiltrated mainstream food culture, some suggest. Photo: LokFung/Getty
Hear me out. Stereotypes abound with regards to so-called “stoner” culture. Supreme among them is that of the midnight toker who, spurred by a late-night case of the munchies, concocts all manner of culinary abominations. These dishes tend to be blown-out flavor-wise — something sweet is very sweet, and if cheese is involved, there’s a lot of it — but they’re undeniably tempting in that so-bad-it’s-good kind of way.
Related: 20 Recipes Everyone, Including Stoners, Will Love
Key to these creations is that they’re made with whatever’s on hand, which can lead to unlikely ingredient combos. Like, say, peanut butter and jelly pancake tacos, Cheetos smothered in nacho cheese, or any of the other dishes here. You might call them “mashups.”
In this way, these creations aren’t much different from the increasingly out-there offerings from fast food restaurants that have crept up in recent years. Taco Bell’s wildly popular Doritos Locos taco line comes to mind, as does the KFC Double Down, which swapped out bread for two deep-fried chicken cutlets. There are others, too: Burger King’s bacon-topped sundae. Dunkin’ Donuts’s glazed donut breakfast sandwich. Denny’s grilled cheese stuffed with fried mozzarella sticks. The list goes on and on. Taco Bell has even gone so far as to advertise the “Fourthmeal,” which all but featured a smoking blunt in one commercial spot.
We’d also be remiss not to mention Ben & Jerry’s, which last week announced the release of its ice cream burrito, called the “brrr-ito.” The launch was timed for April 20 — a date widely acknowledged as an unofficial stoner holiday — and this was the stoner-ific ad that heralded it:
Then there are the more highbrow mashups. The Cronut, anyone? We needn’t go into the legions of copycat “frankenpastries” that followed.
As marijuana legalization slowly spreads across America and attitudes toward its use relax, one has to wonder: Have stoners influenced mainstream food culture? And did it give birth to the mashup trend?
“I think some stoners would laugh and own up to it, and others would be offended and we say, ‘We don’t want to be responsible for that,’” said Ricardo Baca, marijuana editor at The Denver Post and creator of the paper’s marijuana-slanted politics and culture hub The Cannabist. “Legalization is definitely helping normalization,” he continued. “Plenty stoners are self-respecting human beings who are not downing a bag of Cheetos in one sitting.”
The Doritos Locos taco, which features a Doritos-flavored taco shell. Photo: Taco Bell
That said, Baca admits that stoner cuisine lends itself to wacky flavor combinations: “When you’re sober, you would never combine Fritos with an orange and a glass of milk and some frozen peas that you heated up on the microwave.” Stoner culture may have laid the groundwork for novelty dishes like Doritos Locos, he said, but there’s no way to tell for sure. Still, a press release that landed in Baca’s inbox last month seems to affirm that hypothesis.
“We wanted to let you know about some new specials from The Nugget Spot,” read the release, referring to a New York City restaurant more than 1,700 miles from Baca’s Denver office. Among them? “Nugchos,” a cross between chicken nuggets and nachos described as pieces of “tenderized chicken breast coated in corn tortillas, deep fried, and smothered with pico de gallo, nacho queso, O.G. Ranch, and jalapeños.”
“Clearly they’re going for a certain demographic,” Baca said. “It was just a little non-verbal wink and a nod. They clearly see a link there. It is absolutely hilarious. It got my attention.”
Also of note, McDonald’s is starting to test its all-day menu on 4/20. Coincidence? Probably not.
The Nugget Spot is hosting a nugget-eating contest on April 20, also known as 4/20. Photo: thenuggetspot/Instagram
The way marijuana has gone mainstream has also resulted in the development of tamer “stoner” foods, which closely resemble traditional fare in taste and texture except for one essential thing: They get you high.
“Everyone who’s doing this doesn’t fit into the stereotype of the stoner, which portrays everyone as eating quesaritos and whatever else comes out of Taco Bell at one o’clock in the morning,” said Noah Kaufman, an associate editor at Food & Wine magazine’s millennial-attuned offshoot FWx. The site has covered marijuana-influenced food culture in the wake of recent legalizations across the country.
With the aid of oil and butter infused with THC — the active component in marijuana — they’re “cooking lobster, cooking salmon, and things that are more traditional.” It’s allowed for the flourishing of cookbooks including Herb, a forthcoming collection of elegantly photographed dishes such as butternut squash soup and pesto lasagna. Another cookbook, The Vegan Stoner, a whimsically illustrated tome inspired by the blog of the same name, offers THC-free recipes to “munch” while high.
Herb, a cookbook from the recipe site The Stoner’s Cookbook. Photo: The Stoner’s Cookbook
Now, we know that a spike in food mashups and marijuana acceptance happened around the same time, but that’s far from a smoking gun linking the two. Still, one thing is for sure. “Stoners are being welcomed into mainstream culture,” Kaufman stated, which may mean that companies will begin (or already are) marketing to people who are in search of a munchies fix. He thinks they’ll likely find a receptive consumership.
“People are able to embrace it more outwardly than they ever did before,” Kaufman said.
More food world controversies:
Should crying babies be banned from restaurants?
“Waffogato” theft accusation lodged against the creator of the Cronut
Thug Kitchen remains on the best-seller list, despite controversy
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