A Mini Moment With: Chala June

A MINI MOMENT WITH: CHALA JUNE

Hot take: the future of weed writing is food writing. It’s not that the industry is going to go all-edible—we love ‘em, but flower will never go out of style—but this is, after all, a plant grown on a farm. How it’s grown matters; where it’s grown matters, and it takes a writer experienced in the nuanced vocabulary of taste, smell, and touch to accurately capture cannabis experiences. In many ways, food writers are key to cannabis destigmatization for the masses.

So why are there so few weed stories in food media? 

 

Chala June is on a mission to change that. The Maryland-born, New York-based culinary storyteller currently writes freelance, following a stint as an assistant editor at Bon Appetit. You might’ve caught their recent New York Magazine story helping folks learn how to legally grow indoors in New York City, or a roundup of giftable edibles or THC drinks during their time at Bon Appetit. June is inspired by the booming culinary cannabis scenes, and they aren’t short of story ideas. The question is if legacy food outlets is ready to run those stories. 

Ahead of an indefinite backpacking trip abroad, Miss Grass caught up with June about the state of cannabis + food writing, the challenges in front of those attempting to do so with creativity and care, and their relationship to the edible and smokable realms.

How did you get your start in writing?

I’ve really been writing my whole life. I was that kid in the library voraciously reading Lemony Snicket. I went to college for writing and publishing. While in college, I started interning at an indie alt-weekly newspaper. I was working under the music editor and got to write about new local bands, tours coming to town, etc. I was like, “I don’t want to go to journalism school! I want to be a creative writer!” But then I was like, “Ok, I also need to make a living.” I am glad my background isn’t in hard news, though, because I find that helps me look more closely at the larger story and the human story behind the facts being presented. 

What about the food world?

In addition to freelance writing, I was working in lots of kitchens to pay my way through school. After I graduated, I was continuing that hybrid working in kitchens and pitching stories, and then when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I was just stuck at home sending out job application after job application. I ended up getting an email back from Bon Appetit for an assistant editing role and working there for two years. 

When did you first get introduced to the emerging culinary cannabis scene? 

While I was at Bon Appetit, I was invited to the Luxury Meets Cannabis Conference in Chelsea featuring some infused brands. It really blew my mind open to see all of these incredible women-owned brands and BIPOC-owned businesses elevating this plant into something I didn’t even know was possible. I grew up smoking it out of water bottles behind the football field stands, you know? I had such a good time talking with brands in the green room, I ended up connecting with the LMCC organizers and came back the next year as a moderator of a panel about food and cannabis. 

About a year and a half ago, I left Bon Appetit to freelance full time, and a big part of that was to be able to do more cannabis writing. I was starting to learn more about the overlap of cannabis and food and the whole world that exists in that pocket, meeting more people, and it felt important to share those stories.

What your first weed story was about?

I think the first cannabis story I did at Bon Appetit was a cannabis gift guide for the holidays. I’m still grateful for it—over a year later, it was so cool to visit Green Qween dispensary in LA and see a little excerpt of my gift guide in the display. That warmed my heart. It really reminds me how, in this battle for more intentional coverage of cannabis, every win feels so big and mean so much to the people putting their blood, sweat, and tears into these products, working against all the stigma and shadow-banning and censorship.

What about your favorite weed story?

Here’s the thing: There were many weed stories that I pitched when I was still at BA—there weren’t many that actually got published. They weren’t ready. A lot of traditional media is still being very reticent (to put it kindly) to cover cannabis in a way that’s intentional and doesn’t just play into gimmicks or stereotypes. 

Even now, it’s like, this year BA published a weed brownie recipe. Not to disparage the people who developed it—the brownies looked incredible, they work very hard on those recipes—but as someone who is in the cannabis sphere, a brownie recipe in 2024? So cringe!

It is notably rare to see something other than an infused recipe or maybe a chef profile in a smaller, local publication.

That’s why I see such an opportunity as a food journalist, someone who’s trained to write in a sensory-focused way, trained to write about the smells, the tastes, the textures of a product. Someone who’s also trained to write for an audience who’s looking for these products. Looking for products from a particular region or farm. Cannabis is a product that we can be thinking about in these culinary ways—the terroir, the terpenes, etc. 

It has become not only a platform but a calling for me to uplift and champion the incredible people in the cannabis industry who just want everyone to be a little bit happier, a bit more connected with each other, help people sleep better and be less anxious.

Why do you think it’s so hard to get more authentic, intentional media coverage of cannabis?

With mainstream media and food pubs in particular, they don’t know why they should care or what this has to do with them. Even though I’m like, “It has so much to do with you if you’re paying attention.”

There’s also this old guard, especially in newsrooms, who have this idea that the second we start to talk about weed, we’re pushing drugs onto people. When really, people just want to know what’s going on. It feels really important to provide intentional consumer education through media. We get consumer education about alcohol and coffee all the time. But when it comes to cannabis, suddenly a state legalizes and people are surrounded by dispensaries and have no information to navigate these new spaces and products. And it’s proven to be a dangerous combination. 

Have you had much luck getting your pitches published elsewhere?

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a number of indie publishers. I got to write a really incredible piece about culinary women in cannabis for Cherry Bombe last year, I write a column for Edible Manhattan all about cannabis culture and demystifying it and have written for Different Leaf out of Massachusetts. It’s wonderful to see these indies are willing to take the risk and really listen to what their audience wants. They depend on their subscribers and they are more connected to their readers because of that. 

Something I’m really excited about is a new project with Heritage Radio Network, my first podcast! It’ll be called Jazz Cabbage, it’ll be about demystifying cannabis through a cannabis lens. Having herbalists, sommeliers, chefs on as guests, sharing in their own words and their own voice why this is important to them. 

What’s your favorite story you’ve written so far?

Two part answer: my favorite overall package I ever conceptualized and worked on was June 2022, when BA produced their first ever Pride package called “Food Is Queer.” That was my child—I pitched it 9 months ahead of time. I gestated that package. It was something that felt so important to publish. It was written, photographed, and illustrated by queer and trans people. 18 original stories, recipes, essays, and city guides. It was a push to get it published but means so much to me and the people who worked on it and read it. Definitely a feather in my cap from my time at BA.

My favorite interview I got to do there was with the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage. She wrote Clyde’s, a play about formerly incarcerated people working at a truck stop sandwich shop. That was one that I felt so privileged to write—to get to attend the opening and interview this women whose works I read in school. It meant so much to me. 

What is your current consumption ritual?

Cannabis is the co-lead of this TV series that is my life. I consume every day. I suffer from anxiety that can be debilitating. I consume before my yoga practice. It’s a nice way to connect with loved ones. If I’m having a tough day, weed is waiting for me with a neck massage and a warm towel. She’s the ultimate girlfriend. In the city, it helps me not be overstimulated in my day to day. I’ll take a couple puffs before I get on the subway because nine times out of ten, there’s going to be something crazy awaiting me there. 

Flower is king for me. I love to roll jay’s. The ritual of sitting down, grinding, rolling. I’ve gotten into rolling really skinny joints. I used to roll what my friend called “cricket bats”—super wide, fat joints. Now I’m in this elegant, Virginia Slims-joint era. Every hit tastes good till the end. I’ve got a friend working as a processor at Hudson Cannabis and that’s gotten me into rolling little hash holes into my joints as well.

I do love an edible, too. I often use Chef For Higher’s infused honey in my morning tea for a perfect kickstart to the day. Just a low 2.5–5 mg to open myself up.

What is your best stoned culinary creation?

A 4/20 munchie sandwich. I called it “Not Yo Mamma’s PB & J.” It was essentially a peanut butter and jelly, hybridized with a grilled cheese. Peanut butter and bacon on one side, fig jam and brie on the other, add a mushroom confit, sliced apples, and then grilled it in homemade ramp butter—I really freaked that one. It was so good. It was sinful. 

Not the ramp butter!

It was ramp season, I was at the store, and I was like, fuck it. Ramp butter!

If you’re taking a lil hash hole hit and putting on your headphones, what’s playing?

Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do For Love.” Sun is shining, birds are chirping. It is my theme song.

Any podcast recs?

Lemme Say This, with Peyton Dix and Hunter Harris. I love them both dearly. We all survived college in Boston together—an unbreakable bond.

Besides food and weed, what other topics could you talk about endlessly?

The trans agenda. The LGBTQ agenda. One Direction fandom between 2010 and 2015, I was deep in there. The seminal 1996 film, Space Jam. I screen it annually on my birthday. It’s the second best thing to come out of that year, after me.

You’ve got a free day in NYC, no obligations or deadlines. What’s the move?

I’m going to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Literally walking and smelling the flowers. Looking at the giant koi and turtles. I’m going up the street to get banh mi at Banh Mi Place. Then, I’m going to Prospect Park, hanging my hammock by the lake, and I’m smoking a jay and blissing out. That is the perfect day.