{"id":2443964,"date":"2019-05-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=305470"},"modified":"2019-05-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-09T06:00:00","slug":"high-country-cannabis-is-coming-to-the-james-beard-house-but-theres-a-catch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/high-country-cannabis-is-coming-to-the-james-beard-house-but-theres-a-catch\/","title":{"rendered":"High Country: Cannabis is coming to the James Beard House, but there\u2019s a catch"},"content":{"rendered":"
James Beard House in New York.<\/strong>
Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Los Angeles-based chef Holden Jagger announced an appearance at the James Beard House via Instagram<\/a> in April, he proclaimed proudly it was \u201ca lifelong dream\u201d and \u201chistoric moment\u201d for the iconic institution of American food culture to host a CBD-infused feast.<\/p>\n

Three days later, Reuters released the report, \u201cIn New York, confusion reigns in the emerging CBD edibles business,\u201d which warned owners of restaurants and caf\u00e9s to cease sales of CBD-infused food and drink products or face penalties.<\/p>\n

With CBD largely (and legally) embraced in Colorado restaurants and bars and locally on the menu at Free Range Kitchen & Wine Bar<\/a>, if your offseason travel itinerary takes you to New York City this spring, you\u2019ll find it\u2019s much more of a challenge to find cannabis-infused cuisine.<\/p>\n

Following a phone interview that same week with Jagger, he reached back out to let me know there had been a major shift in the then-titled \u201cAn Introduction to CBD Cuisine\u201d due to legal concerns. Scheduled for May 15, it\u2019s now instead an \u201cAn Exploration of Terpenes,\u201d where he and Rachel Burkons will present a dinner examining the molecules responsible for flavor and aroma in cannabis and how they can enhance food.<\/p>\n

Siobhan Flaherty Haber, vice president of events at the James Beard Foundation, says of the switch, \u201cCBD is a very hot topic, but there\u2019s still a lot of confusion surrounding cannabis, especially following new rules instituted earlier this year in NYC. Most people aren\u2019t aware that terpenes give cannabis its distinctive smell and taste, so a dedicated dinner on the subject is a great first step for those who want to learn more about the many flavor profiles found in cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the upcoming event is not the James Beard Foundation\u2019s first foray into educating about the cannabinoid known to be less psychoactive than THC. CBD made its debut on the Beard House dinner table late last year for \u201cA Modern Filipino Feast\u201d featuring infused dishes from chefs Jordan Andino and Gabe Kennedy, who is also the co-founder of cannabis wellness brand Plant People.<\/p>\n

The Burkons (he took his nickname as a chef name early on in his career) are a brother-sister team who co-founded Altered Plates in 2016, a self-described \u201ccreative culinary collective,\u201d who have grown into authorities among the modern cannabis food movement through their year-round calendar of private pairing dinners and infused fine-dining experiences. The duo is also readying for the opening of one of West Hollywood\u2019s first licensed cannabis consumption lounges matched with their signature brand of high-minded hospitality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it\u2019s not what we originally pitched, we are just as excited and honored to have this opportunity to still bring cannabis to the JBF table,\u201d Jagger says. \u201cDue to the climate of the legal space, we just have to be flexible and constantly shift the dialogue of how we actually can present the plant in a way that is acceptable \u2014 especially in states where it is not yet recreationally legal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill legalizing cannabis extracts derived from hemp, the CBD landscape is increasingly complex due to its U.S. Food and Drug Administration classification as a listed drug and unlawful stance on adding it into food and drink or distributing it as a dietary supplement. The FDA has recently stated, though, that it could make an exception and will hold a public forum May 31 in Maryland.<\/p>\n

Haber adds, \u201cPeople have long looked to the (James Beard) Foundation as a resource for food, especially in recent years as new, progressive formats and offerings have hit the scene \u2026 and the plate. Obviously, CBD has become a point of fascination among food conscious consumers \u2014 and the industry \u2014 but a lot of questions remain. We feel like we have a responsibility, now more than ever, to provide education and perspective on the issue and Chef Jagger and his sister are so well versed in the area, we felt they were the perfect conduits for this conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

As one of the few chefs who also cultivates his own cannabis, Jagger\u2019s passion for the plant started as a teenager growing up in Southern California. He even credits pot for helping him focus to improve his grades in high school. He moved to San Francisco in 2002, working in kitchens for the next eight years and spending time off exploring Humbolt County, growing marijuana and starting to experiment with edibles. After moving back to Los Angeles, he held stints at Maude, Soho House and Craft \u2014 primarily as a pastry chef \u2014 earning accolades like Zagat\u2019s 30 Under 30 in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing the industry first-hand up in the Bay Area was super eye-opening for me,\u201d he says. \u201cI have always been very upfront and very vocal about my passion for cannabis, as it truly helped me find my role in life as a chef.\u201d<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t call Jagger a cannabis chef \u2026 or a cannabis sommelier. He prefers \u201cganjier,\u201d a title he created because \u201cboth terms just sounded so cumbersome to me. The suffix \u2018ganja\u2019 is the magic. There\u2019s no formal hospitality standard or guideline around this yet \u2026 no regulatory body \u2026 so I wanted to build off of what I have learned as both a chef and a cultivator to help push this idea of how we can appreciate craft cannabis in the same vein as fine wine forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jagger\u2019s menu will spotlight five fresh-for-spring dishes including: carrot\u2013tangerine soup with smoked parsnip, honey, and jam\u00f3n; charred little gem lettuce with white icicle radish, ricotta salata, walnuts and green goddess dressing; duck carnitas with peanut, garnet yam, salsa verde, and cotija; lemongrass-braised beef short ribs with jasmine-scented barley, tamari, and soft-cured egg yolk; and thyme\u2013lemon beignets with lemon curd.<\/p>\n

According to Jagger, who will present different pairings for aromatic effect during each course, \u201cTerpenes on their own are not psychoactive. They are not a scheduled substance and a major building block for food and igniting the senses. I believe cannabis is a crop \u2026 a vegetable \u2026 and like the farm-to-table movement, I celebrate responsible farmers and their techniques. I am very interested in spreading awareness through table-side activism that if cannabis is embraced in this light, it can have a tremendous effect on the future of our health and our planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katie Shapiro can be reached at katie@katieshapiromedia.com<\/a> or followed on Twitter @bykatieshapiro.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Beard House in New York.Courtesy photo When Los Angeles-based chef Holden Jagger announced an appearance at the James Beard House via Instagram in April, he proclaimed proudly it was \u201ca lifelong dream\u201d and \u201chistoric moment\u201d for the iconic institution of American food culture to host a CBD-infused feast. Three days later, Reuters released the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2443964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 00:00:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}