to various high-end hospitality projects in the Netherlands , they were commissioned in 2014 to create a private ‘ psychedelic dinner ’ for a group of friends .
Following several months of after-hours research into recipes , choosing what herbs to use , then testing dosages and finally a try-out dinner for around 25 willing guinea pigs , an 8-course tasting menu was served in early 2015 .
The dishes utilised all parts of the cannabis plant from seeds and leaves to buds , vapour and concentrates ( oil and hashish ). Other psychoactive herbs used included kanna ( a euphoriant from South Africa ), Syrian rue ( a mildly-psychoactive seed from the Middle East ) and cultivated psychedelic ‘ truffles ’, which are legal in the Netherlands to sell and consume . they had already done , prompted the chefs to team up with a writing and documentary-making duo who had been involved with the tastings . The new High Cuisine team has ambitious plans to take the concept further .
A cookbook of around 100 mind-altering dishes and cocktails is in the works , aimed at professional chefs as well as amateur cooks and ‘ foodie ’ psychonauts . They are also working on a series of travel / cookery shows that will take them to the countries where the exotic – and often sacred – herbs grow , and meet the shamans , bush doctors and herbalists who use them . Countries planned for the first series include Brazil , Mexico , Laos and Indonesia .
FINDING COMMON GROUND
The first episode is set in Amsterdam and uses just some of the dozens of mind-altering herbs , leaves , barks , roots and seeds available online , anywhere . The chefs meet local experts in old Dutch medicinal herbs as well as modern cannabis testing techniques and restaurateur colleagues .
Currently , new herbs are being investigated and native ingredients researched from Africa , the Americas and Asia , but also lost or suppressed European traditions of the indigenous druids and Celts , such as mind-altering herbal ales and ‘ love potions ’.
The overarching philosophy is that we are all indigenous to planet earth , and every society has good reasons to get high .
DEVELOPING THE CONCEPT FURTHER
The success of the meal and the amount of research
But besides providing a healthy alternative social lubricant to alcohol and an eating experience that aims to delight the brain as well as the taste buds , High Cuisine also has more serious ambitions .
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