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A new Montreal-based start-up will allow Canadians to hire chefs to cook marijuana-laced meals in the privacy of their own homes.
In the words of the company, Canolio Gourmet, its online platform will allow you to “book a responsible home chef who knows how to showcase cannabis with local flavors” — those chefs will be trained in the regulations surrounding cannabis edibles, as well as the science. In short, they’ll be experts in dosing the weed, to prevent against any home-cooking mishaps that might put amateurs into a volcanic-eyed state of stupor.
Most notably, Canolio has tapped chef-owner of renowned Village restaurant Le Mousso, Antonin Mousseau-Rivard, to guide its brigade of chefs. Mousseau-Rivard will not be available for customers to hire — he’s a mentor to each “CannaChefPro” (the terminology that Canolio is using).
Since customers are effectively hiring a private chef, it’s obviously not a cheap option for marijuana edibles: prices will vary from $85 to $225, depending on the chef and menu chosen. Children are not allowed to be present at dinners (even if they’re not eating), nor are pregnant women. The latter restriction could get Canolio into hot water — as the Windsor Star noted when reporting on the company, barring pregnant women falls under the category of sex discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Menus are still to be confirmed, but it appears they’ll centre around specific cuisines (Italian, Thai, French). The chefs on the platform haven’t been announced yet, with the exception of Travis Petersen, a west coaster who briefly appeared on MasterChef Canada’s third season; he has since made his name as an expert in cooking with weed.
Since cannabis can only be sold in either government stores or licensed dispensaries (depending on the province), Canolio is treading carefully in order to stay within the law. A representative for Canolio likens the company to AirBNB, but with specially-trained chefs.
Given that Quebec is planning to implement particularly strict rules on weed edibles (when they become legal in October), customers will likely have to supply their own marijuana for the dinners, but will be given precise directions from their chef about what to purchase. So, officially speaking, they’re not selling the product — just the cooking service.
It’s an interesting workaround — given Quebec’s harsh approach to regulation, it was unlikely that any kind of substantial market for edibles would be permitted (as is allowed in places like California), so it seems that Canolio is doing the most it can within the rules in place.