The New York Times is out front of a cooking trend that sees menus catering to stoners. It’s a fascinating read, and good on NYC chefs for figuring out what makes our local food scene purr. It’s a 100 Mile thing, that’s for sure, but I’m not talking potatoes and salmon. Marijuana is having a huge impact on the conceptual front here in Vancouver, but I’ve only just come to see it after reading the NYT piece. While there are no THC tasting menus with skunk crusted halibut with hash oil frites dusted with homegrown shake, our chefs are more and more serving the stuff people crave when they’re high. Think foie gras poutine, fried chicken, freaky hot dogs, popcorn shrimp and cold beer in a relaxed place with cool tunes and mellow service. Not fast food. Not your couch. Just a real easy scene. By name, I’m pretty sure Crave and Habit have it all figured it out, and there are others too.

Dozens have gravitated to (or always been) that sort of deal, maybe unaware of the core reason as to why they’re so bloody successful when it could very well be that half their guests just hotboxed the brown van out front (ever been to Gyoza King at midnight?).

So when I hear successful comfort food restaurateurs say things like “We’re just giving the people what they want,” I wonder if they’ve really understood the reason they’re raking it in. It’s not because comfort food is ironic or retro. It’s because Vancouverites smoke a lot of weed. The burnout demo is living large in this town. So why not trip the mangia fanstastic?

The first gangster to open an overtly weed munchie-themed restaurant wins a fresh pack of rollies.