“It was like watching a shell melt off an M&M,” explains "Jeff the 420 Chef" about an unapproachable boss who became the life of the party after noshing on weed-infused edibles at a company dinner.
“By the end of the night all the people there had bonded with this boss who they had not been able to really bond with in the past because he wasn’t letting down his guard. Once he let it down, he just got into it and it was a whole different story.”
Dubbed the “Julia Child of Weed” by The Daily Beast, Los Angeles-based Jeff the 420 Chef (who prefers not to use his full name) is able to harness the transformative effects of marijuana in his unconventional catering. "People are really getting excited about it. Edibles are all the rage," he says.
And thanks to fast-changing state laws, they're becoming accessible to more and more people. Following the lead of Colorado and Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington, D.C., passed legislation in last year's midterm elections legalizing marijuana, and initiatives could be on the ballot in more states, including Massachusetts, Missouri, and Arizona, in 2016.
His clients who reside in these states include high, ahem, profile celebrities, as well as cancer patients—all of whom are looking for something different. “I’ll ask, ‘What do you want to accomplish?’ And based on what they want to accomplish I’ll get a certain strain of marijuana,” Jeff says. For example, pain-relieving Blue Dream helps patients suffering from depression, nausea, and other ailments, while Purple Haze (named after the classic Jimi Hendrix song) offers a euphoric effect and allegedly spurs creativity.
Many of his clients rely on his weed expertise to guide the feel-good menu. “Most of them don’t know what they want, but they know the feeling that they want,” he says. “I had one guy who said, ‘So listen, I want to have a party where everyone is leaving here in a great mood and they want to get laid.’” That Valentine’s Day affair led to the creation of his CannaBaby Love Bites—chocolate-covered brownies with a love-inducing strain of marijuana.
A former marketing executive for an underwear company, Jeff began experimenting with cannabis cuisine in order to help a friend’s mom who had attained a prescription for medical marijuana due to the side effects of chemotherapy like loss of appetite. One of his cupcakes effectively gave her the "munchies," allowing her to enjoy eating again.
After he began cooking for more friends and family, word got out, and clients began requesting his catering services—where it’s legal. He's prepared meals in California, Colorado, and Oregon, and will be expanding to Washington, Alaska, and Washington, D.C., soon. He offers private party catering and individual meal preparation, as well as special items for events, such as wedding cakes. He’s even done Shabbat dinner with cannabis-infused challah and matzo balls.
And he does it for free. Because of the tricky legalities surrounding marijuana, he doesn’t charge for his cooking. Instead, the client supplies everything: “[They] have the carrots, potatoes, chicken, and weed,” Jeff says, plus they cover travel expenses and lodging. He does offer to shop with the host, including visiting dispensaries to pick the perfect pot.
Menu items include lots of traditional dishes, but with the obvious twist: Canna-Beer chicken, pancakes with Canna-butter and vanilla maple syrup, Whacked mac 'n' cheese, and brownies, of course. Jeff’s secret sauce, so to speak, is his "Tasteless" and "Light Tasting" Pedigree CannaButter and CannaOils. In 2014, he developed a process to neutralize the taste of cannabis, while still maintaining its potency. The cured weed is then infused into fats like butter and oil, which he uses to cook.
“At first, I was nervous. ‘How do I make sure this doesn’t make people crazy?’” he says. With a bit of cooking math based on the number of people at the party and the desired effect, Jeff is able to calculate the proper dosage (and uses the correct amount of butter or oil) in each item to create a cumulative effect over the course of dinner—from starter to dessert. “You don’t taste it, but two hours later you’re like, ‘I’m feeling really good.’”
To offset any cost from his pro bono catering, Jeff teaches workshops such as CannaButter 101: The Art of Cooking With Marijuana, which is offered in San Francisco through foodie community Feastly. Students learn how to make and cook with his light-tasting butter. Attendees must bring their own marijuana and must have a valid California medical marijuana ID card.
In addition to the classes and catering services, Jeff will be the featured chef at the first annual Get Baked Sale in San Francisco in June and is planning a dinner tour at different venues in the Pacific Northwest in July (when marijuana becomes officially legal in Oregon) through Communal Table. He’s also working on a cookbook, possibly starring in a reality TV show, and is hoping to get more involved with cancer support groups.
“I’m not doing this for any other reason than to make people’s lives better,” he says.
