Invited to an Edibles Potluck? Here’s the Proper Etiquette to Follow

We’ve all been invited to potluck BBQs and dinners but if you’re a cannabis consumer and know others in the same community, you may be asked to attend a new kind of potluck: the bring-your-own-edibles dinner party.

This type of gathering can be new to you, so what’s the right etiquette if you’re one of the guests at an edibles event where you’re expected to come with a dish or two?

Get creative 

You might think cannabis edibles revolve around dessert-based food such as cookies and brownies. Maybe a decade ago that’s all cannabis chefs could concoct but thanks to dozens of wide-ranging cookbooks that go beyond the same-old infused brownies, you can now opt for more savoury and funky dishes.

We’ve heard of infused entrées such as coconut seafood stew, pappardelle Bolognese, swordfish teriyaki, brown butter gnocchi and even kimchi. So find the right recipe for you online or via a specialized cannabis cookbook and craft a dish that entices you…because it will likely be attractive to other dinner guests, too.

Also, be sure to make enough for the dinner party, which may mean buying more cannabis products to infuse into your dish than you normally do.

Get the facts right

Before you leave to the dinner party with your cannabis dish, you should have all the stats written down or memorized: how much cannabis is in the dish, what are the other ingredients, and if you’ve had this edible before, how long did it take for the high to kick in?

Giving your guests as much information about your edibles entrée as possible will ensure everyone knows what they’re getting into before they pick up the fork.

Start low, go slow

When it’s time to eat at the potluck, don’t treat it like an all-you-can-eat buffet. Starting low and going slow is one of the most common adages in the edibles community. Due to how THC is absorbed in the body in a different way with edibles (through your stomach) compared to joints (through your lungs, and then bloodstream), it can take up to three hours for a small piece of edibles to affect you, depending on your tolerance. So you want to be patient with edibles, which may be more difficult when you’re with a bunch of people compared to hanging out by yourself. 

But it’s highly advisable to make sure you don’t eat too many edibles, since you may get higher than you wanted at that three-hour mark. It’s always proper etiquette to be high but not too high at a dinner party, similar to how it’s fine to be tipsy but not falling-over-drunk at a similar event.

If you do get too high, then excuse yourself from the party and ask the host if you can lie down in a spare bedroom or basement couch for a little bit. One of the best ways to combat an overly-high feeling is to sleep it off.

Be careful about mixing alcohol and cannabis

If you’re the type of cannabis consumer who is somewhat new to the product, we recommend avoiding the booze-cannabis combo, meaning you should ease up on the alcoholic drinks while under the influence of edibles. 

You could get too high and drunk for your own good, so it’s best to just choose one intoxicant for the night and just drink water or other non-alcoholic beverages to accompany your edibles potluck experience.

Have fun!

Being with friends and enjoying edibles together should be a memorable experience, so be sure to not take everything too seriously and enjoy this unique event. 

And if you’re feeling courageous next time, you could host an edibles-friendly evening yourself and hey, maybe you’ll be treated to some delicious and elevating leftovers by the end of the night!

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This article was written by David Silverberg. David Silverberg is a cannabis journalist and poet based in Toronto. His cannabis journalism has appeared in BBC News, Merry Jane, Lift & Co, NOW Magazine and PROHBTD. For two years he was the editor-in-chief of The Medical Marijuana Review.

This article was published September 25th, 2019.