CLEVELAND, Ohio –Travis Petersen, a.k.a. the Nomad Cook, is bringing cannabis cuisine popup dinners to Northeast Ohio for a few nights this year. His third Cleveland dinner will be July 19. He is hosting a Columbus dinner the night before.
The theme for this night will be barbecue smoke. The menu includes, smoked watermelon salad, jowl bao bun, raspberry lemonade palate reset, 72-hour short rib and peach cobbler.
“I’m trying to demonstrate a new form of cuisine to people,” says Petersen.
Cannabis cuisine is a rapidly evolving category of cooking that uses full-spectrum THC-infused ingredients. THC is the component of marijuana responsible for its psychoactive effects.
Peterson says the THC source for the Nomad Cook dinner is being donated by “a local brand partner” and that he manipulates it into culinary ingredients. He would not identify the supplier or say whether the marijuana originated from a licensed Ohio pot dispensary.
“What we do is still gray,” said Peterson. “I am not going to put any of our partners at liablity when the industry for rec is still new in Ohio “
Nevertheless, Peterson insists the dinners are legal under Ohio law. But how he is legally obtaining THC for use in a commercial dinners, even ones being held on private property, is unclear.
Ohioans legalized marijuana for adult use in last November’s election, and the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control has been passing rules to create the regulatory framework of the program.
The new law, which went into effect Dec. 7, allows Ohioans to home grow marijuana within certain limits. But most of the legal cannabis will be sold via licensed dispensaries in Ohio and the rules and licensing for those dispensaries have still not been finalized.
State regulators just published applications online June 7 for medical marijuana dispensaries to become dual-use retailers to serve recreational customers 21 and older. The Ohio Division of Cannabis Control has until Sept. 7 to review and grant or deny the applications, although some have said they expect licenses to be granted and sales to begin much sooner.
Given the state of flux, it is not clear how Peterson would obtain legal THC in Ohio to stage a commercial cannabis dinner.
Cleveland.com contacted the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control and Department of Public Safety, which declined comment, referring all questions to the Cleveland Police Department. Cleveland.com has contacted the Cleveland Police Department for comment.
Peterson promises a unique culinary experience.
“I make everything from scratch — butters, oils, syrups and sugars,” he says. “These depend on recipe I’m creating. It will depend on how I want to create it.”
For the dinner, each diner is dosed according to personal tolerance. Petersen confers with the diner to determine if they want 5 milligrams — for those less experienced or looking for a light buzz versus – or 100 milligrams for those with greater tolerances.
The dinners are not the whim of an upstart. Nor are they rooted in stoner culture. They are the product of a professional chef who has spent the last seven years developing cannabis recipes and hosting private dinners in cities around the world.
Those who purchase the $200 plus tips ticket to a Nomadic Night will receive an email five days before the dinner detailing the exact location.
Getting tickets isn’t too difficult. You have to contact Petersen on social media to request information. You can find him on Instagram at @the_nomadcook
“None of my events are posted publicly,” he says. “No one can just google and buy a ticket. You need to come and ask for a link and be part of the community. We are still in a grey space with this. We operate within the rules, we’re not doing anything to put anyone’s license in jeopardy.”
Locations are private. Petersen buys out AirBnB space or rents private event venues for the dinners. To prevent buzzed driving, diners are told to book rooms or use drivers such as Uber and Lyft.
“I’m based out of Arizona but I’m from Vancouver, Canada,” notes Peterson. Cannabis has been legal in Canada since 2018. And Peterson was an early adopter, debuting his first dinners that year.
“This was going to be a one-time thing,” he says. “It blew up and took off. Now I’ve served 15,000 people in eight countries. I really got to travel the world, introducing people to this new cuisine.”
He sees great potential for more dinners in the United States.
“The dominoes have fallen,” he says. “America, with its capitalist mindset, has provided a lot of opportunity for growth.”
Those who want to do what Petersen does can find his cookbook — “Introduction to Culinary Cannabis” cookbook — online for $52.
He just launched an online course ($125) for culinary cannabis. Information can be found at “Introduction to Culinary Cannabis” Course.
“If you want to incorporate cannabis into your menus you need to have an understanding of the plant and what happens when it’s consumed in the body. The outcome you’re intending from your extraction will help determine the method you use to create it,” Petersen notes on his website.
H/T: www.cleveland.com
