A Feast For The Senses...

How can the cannabis industry and creative industry aid in the rescue, recovery, restoration and rehabilitation of the food and drink industry after the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided?

In the words of Ringo Starr, with a little help from my friends…

To say the pandemic has been a disruption would be the understatement of the decade.

COVID has thrown us for a loop like no other.

It has also thrown us into a brave new world. With the old way of doing things permanently altered, we are challenged with finding innovations to overcome obstacles we never dreamt of.

At some point, the pandemic will gradually subside as more people become vaccinated, or some advance in medicine will hopefully eradicate it.

Until such a time, however, we are faced with the daunting prospect of finding ways to bring people back to venues and gatherings.

If you want to travel fast, go alone.

If you want to travel far, go together.

The worlds of food, drink, cannabis and creative industry have often travelled together, albeit in a somewhat tangential manner. Their orbits have crisscrossed, but rarely have they made any intentional, meaningful or deliberate connections.

It might be time for that to happen…

What if the food and drink, cannabis, and creative industries struck up serious relationships?

Not just appearing in each other's spaces passively, but as active participants and collaborators?

By the end of the decade, recreational cannabis on a global scale is highly likely to happen. The barriers to prohibition are starting to fall. Slowly, but they are falling.

The governments of Uruguay and Canada have made recreational cannabis legal, as have several states in the US. Several countries have legalized medicinal cannabis, and many more are tabling legislation to end cannabis prohibition. It has already proven itself to be a rapidly expanding industry.

And if you are a consumer of cannabis, what is one of the things you have eventually done after consuming it?

If you said a) order a pizza/take out b) listened to music c) played a videogame/watched your favourite movie or d) all of the above, give yourself a nice pat on the back.

Like I said before, the relationship between them has been largely incidental and tangential, a passive relationship where if it happens, it happens.

But what if all the participants took a more active deliberate role?

What if liaisons within the industries were created, people who learned to develop an arena of common ground and developed a dialogue with each other?

What if the industries embarked on projects with a single shared common goal?

Consider the possibilities…

For a start, the academic possibilities.

As research into the effects of cannabis become more commonplace, the information we have regarding cannabis will increase. We will know more about its physiological, as well as psychological effects. Armed with this information, we can learn more about proper dosage, psychoactive effects, duration, strain differences and the like.

From that point, we can then begin to look at how cannabis influences smell and taste, as well as its effect on visual stimuli. Consequently, we can also learn more about the reverse, how the stimuli affects those who have consumed cannabis.

With more research into the sensory experience, the relationship between the industries can deepen and develop.

This is not a new idea, as collaborations between the worlds are already happening in various forms. The only new thing here is making the relationship a more overt and deliberate one.

Armed with a raft of collected data, new theories, new ideas, new concepts, and new experiments can emerge.

Imagine budtenders trained almost in the same manner as a wine sommelier. Going to the dispensary and finding out which strain would go best with a backyard BBQ or afternoon tea and sweet pastries.

Imagine chefs trained in the infusion of cannabis into specific cuisines. Ones that could heighten the taste and smell, or meals that could cater to a particular combination of flavours and smells.

Imagine music consultants who could assist you in curating the perfect playlist for a dinner party. The music could serve like another ingredient being added to the dish to give it texture and life.

Imagine brewers and distillers able to create beverages infused with cannabis in such a way that they take full advantage of the psychoactive properties (BTW, cannabis and hops come from the same botanical family...Google it.)

Imagine online take out menus with links to streaming playlists, or even film recommendations!

So why would anyone do this? Why go through all this trouble? Why make the effort?

Simple. Because it makes good business sense.

Anything that will give you the advantage over a competitor in your field is essential for survival. Gradually, an industry where a change has a lasting and significant effect draws attention as well as imitation.

As restrictions lift and the practice becomes more widespread, what will be seen as an outlier and a marginal movement will become part of the industry landscape. What seems outlandish one day will become standard the next.

As the idea takes hold, local economies will radically alter and shift to meet the growing demand, which will in turn lead to innovation and inspiration.

A host of new roles will develop to meet with the demand. Simply leaving the process to chance will no longer be an option. It will be a conscious and deliberate act, immersive and collaborative.

It will become an exchange with layers and nuances, one that will weave a unique narrative on many levels.

From local all the way up to global, cuisines will be shaped by a range of new ingredients.

Sensory experiences are linked. They always have been. They do not exist in individual vacuums, but in concert, much like a musical ensemble. They are there to compliment, as well as complement each other.

By making a deliberate and conscious effort to stimulate and heighten the senses, the food and drink industry can literally become an art form.

The musical experience can extend beyond curated playlists and bespoke musical content. Live performing musicians could provide the backdrop to an intimate and highly personalized immersive culinary experience. Musicians and food vendors/creators could collaborate to create unique stylistic statements, as even if the process were to be repeated at some point, it would be perceived differently, even if it were the same patrons, as the energy, intensity and delivery would differ slightly each time.

Small market vendors and independent artists could collaborate to create a pop-up ‘gallery’ of sorts.

Cannabis growers could develop strains to complement herbs and spices used in preparing dishes.

The techniques employed by deejays to ‘read the temperature’ of a room can be used to adjust the playlist during a meal or an event in order to tap the full potential of the experience.

For every scenario, every setting, every stimulus, there will be a new way to interpret, a new vehicle for delivering the media, a new approach.

This can be an exciting opportunity for change and innovation.

If we have the courage to approach, it truly can become a feast for the senses...