Moroccan-Inspired Vegan Cuisine Event by Hempress Rising
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I was invited to attend an evening of cannabis-infused dining with Hempress Rising, a vegan wellness company founded in North London. Hosting their first dining event in The Ridley Road Social Club, the evening consisted of a five-course Moroccan style meal in a unique London setting.
The evening presented an excellent opportunity to socialise in an otherwise pretty bland summer due to lockdown and our current pandemic.
Cannabis-infused dining events are often highly exclusive events, and ticket prices can cost £50, £75 or even £100+ per ticket. But they provide an experience that it is hard to replicate in one’s own kitchen, even if you have the culinary prowess.
Arriving at The Ridley Road Social Club I was greeted by Jade, founder of Hempress Rising who showed me around the space. The social club is an open plan space enriched with the Greenery of a hundred-or-so houseplants of all shapes and sizes. It is a mixture of cafe, studio workshops, a vinyl shop (with full DJ setup) and now also a Cannabinoid Dispensary. Jade was helped by another lady, Agness, to create the food, and two more people Ellie and Hanah were also on the events team.
The space is normally open as Dalston Member’s Club with the cafe serving food throughout the day, but the evening event was a lock-in. After a pre-dinner chill session 12 of us sat around a huge wooden table and dinner was served.
Our meal for the evening consisted of five course of Moroccan-style cuisine starting with the first course – a Moroccan Tea Granita Shot with Peppermint and Rose. I enjoyed the cool-nature of this drink – part slushie, part margarita, it had a unique flavour and mouth feel. I have no idea how much cannabis it was infused with.
Our second dish was a plate consisting of hemp-seed Pittas, hemp falafels and generous helpings of various infused dips. The dips were given cannabis-inspired names like “Baba Ganj-nouche” and “TH-Ziki” and tasted really good.
Losing track of time during the evening, I noted that it was after this point that I started feeling the effects of the first courses.
After the bread and dips course, Jade brought over a Moroccan stew with Sweet Potato and Saffron rice and tabboleh. This creamy fragrant dish was drizzled with infused cannabis oil and had crushed hemp seeds garnishing the top.
Course four was the dessert; a delicious Agave Orange Cake infused with Kush Family Collective Bubble Hash and CBD-ice cream. Hempress Rising even made me a special alternative cake and ice cream due to my allergy requirements so I didn’t have to miss out on this course!
Finally, as the fifth-course tea and coffee were served with organic raw CBD chocolate to complete the dining experience. By this time it was after midnight and myself and other guests were fully fed and suitably stoned.
I had a tremendously fun time at this event and woke up with quite a fuzzy head the next day. I look forward to attending another event like this soon!
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Photos by Tyler Green