Fancy salads with cannabis? It’s on the menu

A DIFFERENT SORT OF KICK The Abhaibhubejhr Spa Cuisine restaurant is drawing crowds because of its weed-inspired menu, which includes the deep-fried bread topped with pork and a marijuana leaf. —PHOTOS BY AFP

PRACHIN BURI, THAILAND—From spicy “happy” salads to soups sprinkled with cannabis shoots and deep-fried marijuana leaves—a restaurant at a Thai hospital has rolled out a weed-inspired menu, which has curious customers flocking to sample its euphoria-indu­cing offerings.

Since becoming the first Southeast Asian country to legalize medical marijuana in 2018, Thailand has plowed ahead on the extraction, distillation and marketing of cannabis oil—eager to capitalize on the multibillion-dollar industry.

The plant itself was finally removed from the kingdom’s narcotics list last month. Many marijuana clinics have opened, and licensed providers—like hospitals—can now use its leaves, stems and roots in food.

This marks a return to Thailand’s culinary past, said Pakakrong Kwankhao, a doctor who heads the Center of Evidence-based Thai Traditional and Herbal Medicine in Chao Phya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital.

“Putting cannabis leaves in the food is our culture,” she said. “In the past before cannabis was banned, … we put small amounts as seasoning herbs and we also use[d] it as a herbal remedy.”

Battered, fried, sprinkled

The restaurant’s offerings include a happy pork soup, deep-fried bread topped with pork and a marijuana leaf, and a salad of crispy cannabis leaves served with ground pork and chopped vegetables.

In the restaurant’s bustling kitchen, a cook batters marijuana leaves and fries them to golden crispness, while another sprinkles them in a wok of minced meat with chili.

To avoid overconsumption, the restaurant has a five-leaf maximum limit per customer, said Pakakrong. “If they have low tolerance, then they may choose the dish with just a half-leaf,” she said, warning those who are pregnant or with certain health problems that they should avoid the weed-infused menu.

The restaurant draws a crowd during lunch, with diners snapping selfies while growing increasingly mirthful with each passing hour.

In this photo taken on January 15, 2021 a chef prepares a dish with cannabis leaves at the Abhaibhubejhr Spa Cuisine restaurant at the Abhaibhubejhr Day Spa, next to Chao Phraya Aphaiphubet Hospital in Prachinburi. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)

“Are we laughing because of what we’ve eaten? I don’t think completely anyway,” said customer Thierry Martino, a French jewelry designer.

“The cannabis leaf which [the dish] is cooked with gives a little bit of bitterness,” he said, adding that his meal was “excellent.”

Ancient way of dining

Arsala Chaocharoen says she’s eating in the same way ancient Thais used to dine. “They’ve put the cannabis leaves in my noodle soup and this is actually an old traditional knowledge of Thais,” the 32-year-old pharmacist said, before digging into her “joyfully happy spicy salad”—a dish of corn-battered leaves served with chili sauce.

Thai Deputy Education Minister Kanokwan Vilawan said the next step was to offer famous Thai dishes to reach an international audience.

“We plan to add more [cannabis] to Thai dishes that are already well known, such as green curry soup, to boost the popularity of these dishes even more,” she said. —REPORTS FROM AFP AND REUTERS