Chris Sayegh: the Californian chef who cooks with weed

Californian chef Chris Sayegh has created a menu of «haute cuisine» as the state prepares for cannabis legalization in November.

Christopher Sayegh is taking the lead by offering to come and cook at your home for 500$ per head, or at ephemeral banquets around Los Angeles for 20 to 200$ per person. For the time being, each guest must hold a medical cannabis card.

Chris Sayegh, 23, has cut his teeth in high-profile restaurants in New York and California. He admits, however, that adding cannabis to his recipes creates a new experience for guests that goes beyond the effects of a good wine.

«For me, it's a cerebral experience.

«You eat with a different perception every bite, every dish. You literally change the way your brain perceives tastes and see that food differently than 5 or 10 minutes before.».

The cannabis-infused food is not new, and its market has recently evolved into a multi-million dollar industry. Cannabis dinners, on the other hand, are a relatively new concept, and Sayegh wants to democratize them.

In California, the Cannabis has been legal for medical purposes since 1996, California citizens are expected to vote in November on whether to legalize recreational cannabis. Christopher Sayegh says he began experimenting with cannabic cuisine after tiring of space brownies and other snacks.

«It was from the moment I broke down my cooking into science that I realized cooking with cannabis... was a really different thing than just adding it to dishes,» he says.

In cooking, Sayegh uses oil containing an extract of THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, and a vaporizer to infuse the ingredients with THC.

«You'll never smell cannabis in my kitchen unless I specifically want you to smell it because its taste is not necessarily pleasant... It covers all the flavors of the dish,» he says, adding that he micro-doses his dishes according to the strength desired by his customers.

His latest dinner party? A three-course meal: candied carrot gnocchi with cannabis-infused pea emulsion, followed by steak with parsnip purée and a «medical» red wine reduction. For dessert, caramel pudding with toasted coconut and cannabis-infused chocolate.