US legal cannabis industry seeks new ways to incorporate weed into meals after a tough year for business in 2025
Food and stoner culture have always gone together, but these days chefs and cannabis professionals are working together to find thoughtful, new ways to incorporate weed into meals.
For National Hot Pastrami Day on 14 January, a celebrated Jewish deli in Chicago teamed up with a local Illinois dispensary to give customers free pastrami sandwiches garnished with cannabis-infused mustard.
The “High on Rye” event was held in the parking lot of Ivy Hall dispensary’s Logan Square location. Customers lined up for free pastrami sandwiches from Steingold’s Deli, complete with an intoxicating brown mustard. Asked if the mustard was a one-time gimmick or the beginning of something bigger, Aaron Steingold, the deli’s founder and Jonny Boucher, Ivy Hall’s director of marketing, said they weren’t sure – but they were having a good time.
“A year ago, we did the world’s largest infused pizza with Paulie Gee’s,” said Boucher. Since then, he has been looking for new ways to test the waters and figure out what kinds of infused foods people might get excited about.
