phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES OCT 20TH–OCT 26TH, 2022 State Licensed Dispensaries & Doctor Certifications | CANNABIS | Mike Madriaga Vibe from p 55 lates to “I’m done” in Spanish. Angel cleaned out the bong bowl with a metal pick, disinfected the mouthpiece, prepped it with more Mac V2, lit it, and said, “Go.” The next person in line took a big toke, held the smoke in her lungs for about 10 seconds, then exhaled a colossal cloud. “The weed helps me relax and keep my sanity,” Smith said. “It keeps the stress level down.” Smith, who works in a ship- ping and receiving department of a local business, said he’s been smoking weed for more than 30 years. He added that the Costco-like approach of sampling weed product works. He said that after the festival, he’s heading to a GreenPharms store to cop more of the Mac V2. “It’s more than the bud — they are friendly and knowledgeable,” Smith said of employees at GreenPharms. ‘You Get the Munchies’ Mangia Ganja opened at 11 a.m., and at noon people were still waiting to get into The Venue. The event site quickly filled up and lines began forming at the Dog On It, La Hotkeria, and Savage Daiquiri’s food and beverage spots. “My biggest qualm is when there are only medicated samples at an event, and you keep eating those instead, and I need [non-medicated] food,” said Grey. “When you get high, you get the munchies, right?” Some pot smokers get a cottonmouth, too. “And here, they have this little lemonade stand right there (Dank Drank Lemonade) that makes like every flavor of lemonade, and Eis Café ice cream coffee is my jam. They’re very refreshing, especially today,” Grey said. Both beverage spots had lines of customers. The Tzikii Food Truck was the first food offering as people entered the event. “Our best seller is the gyro,” said Mino Henes, who’s been in the Egyptian food truck busi- ness with his mother for seven years. The Trap Culture is the promotional company behind Mangia Ganja, which is billed as “the first cannabis-consumption-friendly food truck festival in Arizona.” $12 gyro consists of lamb and beef meat, which is sliced off a rotisserie as it spins over the flame. Put the meat on pita bread and top it with lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and Tzikii sauce — a wordplay on Tzatziki, which is a Mediterranean spice made with yogurt, minced garlic, olive oil, and chopped cucumbers — for the perfect gyro. Henes said he understands firsthand what many attendees experience, as he smokes weed to alleviate the sciatica pain from a pinched nerve. “I smoke marijuana at night so it can help me sleep and relax me after a long day from standing on my feet all day,” he said. Lucky for Henes, some of the businesses at the event hooked him up with free cannabis samples. ‘That’s How I Healed Myself’ Adrianne Goudeau sold her OMG Goudness pickles and treats at the food and cannabis event. “All my product is made from hemp,” she explained. Goudeau extracts CBD from hemp, which she sources from locally owned Superstition Hemp. At the festival, she sold a few bottles of “goudes,” including her Hemp Bread & Butter Pickles and Hemp Spicy Cauliflower Mix, which she sells for $30 a jar. “For my pickles, I used Kangen water (an alkaline ionized water), which provides a PH that will take the pesticides off the pickles — that’s the difference in my pickles.” When asked if she has a THC version of the pickles, Goudeau responded, “That’s how I healed myself.” She explained that she made a line of THC-infused pickles for herself in 2010 after becoming a cannabis patient. When hemp became legal in 2019, she took the techniques she used with cannabis and incorporated hemp, instead. Initially, Goudeau sold baked >> p 59 57
