Chef Roy Choi's Korean Tacos Kickstarted Stoner Cuisine

Great Moments in Weed History

David Bienenstock

Tv & Film, Comedy, History

4.8 • 659 Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"Weed taught me how to be American," chef Roy Choi says of his favorite leafy green. Weed also inspired his most iconic creation–the Kogi taco–easily one of the stoniest culinary sensations of all time. A life-long, loud-and-proud cannabis enthusiast, Roy Choi had to pretty much invent the modern gourmet food truck just to get his Kogi tacos out to the people. Fifteen years later, he's now among the most respected and influential chefs in the world From his early adventures as a member of the 'United Stoners of America,' to his brand new line of edibles with Tsumo Snacks, we talk about cannabis, food, culture, and how to keep pot weird. NOTE: We discuss two scientific studies in the episode, one about how weed actually makes your taste buds more acute, and one about hyper-priming. EPISODE SPONSORED BY PAX It's time to puff, puff, PAX with the world's most advanced cannabis vaporizer. Check out PAX.com for exceptional cannabis experiences made easy. And use the promo code "great moments" for 10% off your order! EPISODE ARCHIVE Visit our podcast feed for 90+ episodes of our classic Great Moments in Weed History format, and subscribe now to get a new weekly podcast every Weednesday. PATREON Please support Great Moments in Weed HIstory on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive access to video versions of this podcast and private seshes, plus cool rewards like a signed book. And it truly helps us make the best show possible

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everybody. It's Bean. Welcome to an all-new episode of Great Moments in Weed History. Right off the top,
0:08.4	I want to offer a huge cron congratulations to the entire state of Minnesota because yesterday,
0:15.4	your governor signed cannabis legalization into law. Gotta give a big shout out here to former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura.
0:23.9	Yep, he's also a former pro wrestler and that guy from the movie The Predator.
0:29.3	Credit where credits do, because Jesse, the body, first championed ending the war on weed
0:34.9	all the way back in the late 90s, and he's been pushing for this change in his home state ever since.
0:41.7	But of course, the biggest gratitude of all goes out to all of the unsung grassroots activists
0:48.5	in the North Star State who've been working to legalize it in Minnesota for the last 50 years and to everyone out there all over the world who's working to legalize it right now wherever you live
1:02.7	So smoke them have you got them Minnesota because that's for sure a great moment in weed history
1:18.3	and I promise you, dear listener, that there's at least two more great moments coming up
1:25.3	in this weeds episode.
1:27.3	The first is the cannabis-fueled invention of
1:29.9	the Koji Taco, signature dish of our guest, chef Roy Choi. The first Kogi Tacos hit the street
1:37.4	back in 2008, and let me tell you, stoner cuisine has never been the same since.
1:44.5	By taking the flavors he grew up with working at his family's restaurant as part of a
1:49.4	Korean immigrant community and mating them with the street tacos of his native Los Angeles,
1:55.6	Roy Choi not only created one of the stoniest culinary sensations of all time, he pretty much invented the modern
2:02.8	gourmet food truck just so he could get those tacos out to the people. As Roy describes it,
2:09.2	the scene that sprung up around his much sought-after Kogi Taco trucks was a bit like
2:14.6	the Grateful Dead lot scene. The latest LA must have is a $2 taco.
2:20.3	Sold from a difficult to find food truck called Kogi.
2:27.5	The tacos and other specialties are the creation of chef Roy Choi,
	...

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