The American cable channel Food Network has produced a cannabis-themed spinoff of their popular cooking show ‘Chopped’ – with plans to launch the show on 4/20.
‘Chopped’ has aired globally since 2009 and is now in its 46th season. It has had many spin-offs since its launch, with its latest spin-off ‘Chopped 420’ featuring a cannabis-food theme. Following the format of the original show, Chopped 420 will see four chefs compete to create appetizers, main course and dessert dishes with four mystery ingredients. Every dish in this spin-off will contain cannabis in some form.
Chopped 420 will air on the 4th of April, also known as ‘4/20’ – a popular holiday throughout the cannabis community.
The spinoff features several cast changes and will be hosted by comedian and cannabis-enthusiast Rob Funches. Funches appeared in the 2016 movie Trolls, which is sort-of considered a stoner movie. The show’s guest judges will be celebrity chef Esther Choi, drag performer Sam Talbot, comedian Tacarra Williams, cannabis activist Laganja Estranja and Luke Reyes (who previously appeared in ‘Cooking on High’).
The contestants on Chopped 420 are competing for a prize of $US10,000. According to the president of Food Network Courtney White, Chopped 420 is a “wild ride”.
For the first time in Chopped history, (chefs will) utilize cannabis to enhance their dishes. Viewers are in for a wild ride.
While cannabis-themed cooking shows may seem very niche, Chopped 420 isn’t even close to the first series of its kind. Cannabis-cookery is growing in popularity worldwide, which has resulted in cooking shows like VICE’s Bong Appetit: Cook-Off and Netflix’s shows Cooking on High and Cooked with Cannabis.
Cannabis-cookery will likely grow in popularity as more jurisdictions decriminalise or legalise cannabis. We recently saw this in action in Thailand, where the government held a 2-day conference for cannabis-themed cookery. Although recreational cannabis is illegal in Australia, consumable hemp foods (like these hemp cookies) were legalised in 2017.
Episodes of Chopped 420 will be airing in Discovery+ starting April 4th. Unlike the regular Chopped episodes, each episode will be an hour long.
