Canna-Grandma Debbie Neil.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED

KELOWNA - Want a chill start to the Thanksgiving weekend?

How about a six-course Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, including of course, the traditional PotHeatPumpkin pie.

Yep, you read that right.

CannaFusion Cuisine is a small, one-grandmother show, a catering business in Kelowna that offers complete multi-course meals completely infused with cannabutter — that is butter made with marijuana — and edible oils also made with pot.

Owner Debbie Neil normally caters smaller, intimate affairs — she did a Thai meal recently — but is inviting people into her East Kelowna home for next week’s dinner.

From the cabbage roll appetizers to the turkey and stuffing through the vegetables and on to dessert, Neil says everything she serves during next week’s Thanksgiving dinner will be “gently infused” with cannabis.

“Even the whipping cream and the gravy, anything that is made with fats,” Neil says.

Added together, the meal can have quite an effect — you're going to want a designated driver — so she makes sure the THC levels in each individual course stay low.

“You have to take into account the different tolerances of people,” Neil says. "Most of the people who sign up are experienced and are capable of judging on their own if they want a little more of something.”

As wife, mother and grandmother — she calls herself the Canna-Grandma — Neil has been cooking for years, only recently adjusting some of her long time recipes to include infused cannabis, using her family as a test kitchen.

“My pizza is very popular. And I just infused some pickles, carrots and beets. I’ve infused ice-cream,” she laughs. “They are pretty good about telling me if something is good or not or doesn’t work as stoner food."

Neil works part time in health care, cutting back her hours last year so she could work on her new-found passion.

Plagued by shoulder problems and insomnia, Neil began using medical marijuana under prescription just a few years ago, before realizing she could meld it with her life-long love for cooking.

Now she’s waiting for the legalization of recreational marijuana in Canada, operating in the same legal grey area as medical marijuana dispensaries.

Neil even tries to apply the same standards, asking guests for a dispensary membership or a Health Canada prescription, although she admits she takes a guest’s word for it if they can’t produce documentation.

There’s room for four more people at next week’s Thanksgiving dinner out of a table set for eight, but Neil isn’t planning to add more seats if it sells out.

“People will just have to wait for the next one, I guess,” she adds. “Or they can call me about a dinner in their own home.”

Thanksgiving dinner is scheduled for Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. and costs $50 per person. You can reach Neil through her Facebook page.

To contact a reporter for this story, email John McDonald or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2017