It’s organic, it’s green, it’s of the earth. No, we’re not talking about spinach. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re talking about your favorite plant and its underground takeover of the culinary world. Yes, weed.

Let’s face it, when it comes to food, weed has dutifully played the role of the side chick, but Mary Jane says she’s had enough. She no longer wants to be thought of with the likes of greasy potato chips and late night Taco Bell runs. Miss Jane wants to make things official and be one with food. Luckily, the culinary world is totally up for it.

Chefs and amateur weed enthusiasts are now cooking upscale, gourmet meals that you’d see at a five star restaurant and adding weed into the mix. The pairing of food and weed is new, but has great potential to be the hottest food trend in the coming years with a few pioneers leading the way.

Melissa Parks, author of  Herb: Mastering the Art of Cooking Cannabis, is making mouth watering dishes like seared bone-in rib eye with a garlic-herb cannacompound butter (pictured below). She’s taking these high end meals and making weed an integral part of the fold.

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Over in Colorado, a restaurant called Hapa Sushi offers a pot-and-dinner pairing menu where diners can have sushi combos, like Honey Miso Salmon with Sour OG or Pakalolo Shrimp, with Pakistani Kush. And get this, the dining area is especially designed to avoid paranoia for anyone dining. The entire concept of this high end restaurant was designed with weed in mind.

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Private dinner party hosts are also getting in on the action. Popular food critic, Jonathan Gold, went to one particular dinner party where weed was used in all of the courses to match with taste of traditional Chinese herbs. Talk about tasty.

As far as the future of weed in the food world, it’s estimated that in five years it could be make $10.2 billion with 40% of that being funds from edibles.

Industry experts say it could bring in as much money as premium alcohol does for restaurants without all the consequences. Owners would much rather deal with a high person than a drunk, especially because they’ll eat a ton of food. It’s a win win.

Several top New York publishing houses are already thinking about cookbook projects they could sell. There is gonna be a huge market for weed, and lots of key players in the culinary industry are excited about it.

This is great news for foodies who enjoy a smoke every once in a while, but the best part about all of this is we can all get creative with the bud (if it’s legal in your state or whatever).

Sure, you might not always be able to cook up a juicy slab of meat, but there are all types of resources out there with recipes on how to make anything from French toast to prosciutto mac and cheese poppers.  So get in the kitchen and start cooking, you “budding” chefs.

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