Cannabis and food: is there a better combination?!
OOKA x Seven9's Pass The Cheer Holiday Party Hosted By Chef Wendy Zeng
On a beautiful Thursday evening in Los Angeles, OOKA x seven9 hosted Pass The Cheer, a super intimate, invite-only outdoor dinner party. The five-course dining experience was not only the brainchild of female chef Wendy Zeng (winner of Food Network’s Chopped 420), but it was also hosted inside her beautiful home in East Los Angeles.
We previously covered the Blunts & Egg Rolls event that took place here, for beautiful daytime vibes. But this time, her backyard patio transformed into a classy, elegant evening soiree. The table itself was laced with OOKAs, the first cannabis hookah. For those who love both cannabis and hookah, this device was made especially for you.
OOKA Launches Holiday-Inspired Pods At Pass The Cheer Party
With the event being called OOKA’s Pass The Cheer party, it was only right to have a bar making mocktails and cocktails. Not only that, but guests were able to try OOKA’s new holiday-inspired pods before they hit the retail market.
All the OOKAs on site featured two pod options: a Sativa Berry Pie, or Indica Watermelon Zkittlez. The former is a sweet treat that’s lively, fruity, and uplifting, guaranteed to heighten the senses and uplift your mood. The latter is described as a “true rainbow of flavor and bliss,” perfect for nights in with friends or calming the mind, body, and soul.
Of course, what folks were looking forward to most was the highly-anticipated dinner. The Pass The Cheer Menu included Blueberry Phyllo Cups, Salmon Tartare, Lemongrass Chicken Satay, Cannacrusted Lamb, Wild Mushroom Pasta, and Buried Berries for dessert.
OOKA Head Of Marketing Kedric George Talks Los Angeles Activations And The Future Of Cannabis Legalization
We spoke with Kedric George, Head of Marketing at OOKA and CMO at its parent company Prestige Laboratories, to discuss the lovely event, and the impact OOKA has on the cannabis community.
SHIRLEY JU: What are you most excited for tonight? It looks amazing!
KEDRIC GEORGE: We are really excited about introducing the product, the experience to people in this type of setting. We’re outside, there’s a big tree in the backyard. The music is nice; we have fire pits in the front and back. We have an amazing dinner. This is what the device was built for. It's about connectivity, bringing people together.
The idea of making cannabis a method of connecting again is what we're all about. When you saw [people getting together for] a cypher and smoke, you have the friend that had it, it was a communal thing. It was a community, and we're trying to return that. That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to do it through a 500-year-old process with hookah smoking that's been around, that’s all about community.
How has the reception to OOKA been?
It's been great, we did our first one in San Francisco. To the device, the reception has been really, really strong. Every time we get it in situations like this, we sample it with people, they understand the intent. They love the experience, it makes sense to them. When we talk about making cannabis convenient, clean, a little safer and about bringing in the community, they get it once they experience it. That's part of why we do these: we want to create the environment so that folks can understand they can really experience what the device brings to the table. What type of experience it makes and why it makes a difference.
OOKA has been doing an incredible job activating around the city of L.A.; can you tell me more about that?
We consider ourselves a bit of a lifestyle product. We want to be where people are having experiences, where community and connectivity and socialization. We launched this to really bring people together. But not just bring them together, bring people in the cannabis community together. One of the things I really love is the notion of putting cannabis front and center. It's on the dinner table right now. You don't have to walk around the back, you don't have to make eye contact with the right people. It's on the dinner table.
That's one of the things that I personally love about the device. It makes it not only acceptable, but acceptable even in a world of legal cannabis. There's still some stigmas that are left. This allows us to put it right next to the glass of wine and the flowers. For us to become part of the experience, we want it to be everywhere.
How do you view where the cannabis industry is right now?
We're at a really good point in the cannabis industry as a whole. We have 40-plus states that are legal in some way, either medical, some version of medical, or fully legal. We’re at the tipping point. I’d imagine very soon cannabis will be legal across the board. It'll be normal and natural to have it at the dinner table, and these devices will make sense. In a few years, you'll go to Thanksgiving with your family and there'll be cranberry [sauce] and cannabis all sitting next to each other on the dinner table. That's what we're all hoping for. That's what we can help bring about through the OOKA.
For those interested in learning more, please visit getooka.com.
(C) OOKA
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Written By:
Shirley Ju is a journalist, media host, and seasoned music industry professional. She is the founder of Shirley's Temple, a podcast series with a focus on mental health, where her guests include Trippie Redd, Chanel West Coast, Ricky Williams, Blac Chyna, and more. Shirley's work has been featured in publications such as Variety, Complex, Nylon, Flaunt, and REVOLT; she can also be seen doing exclusive interviews for leading urban news source VLADTV, featuring a platform with 5 million subscribers. Find out more about Shirley at @shirju on Instagram and Twitter, and on LinkedIn.
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Featured image: Chef Wendy Zeng prepares courses for OOKA's Pass The Cheer party (C) OOKA
