
Pastry chef Vanessa Labrecque and her husband, cannabis connoisseur Joshua Tuck, have combined their areas of expertise, offering cooking classes centred around a certain herbaceous ingredient. At their three-hour sessions, run out of a kitchen space on Richmond Street, canna-curious students learn to create THC-infused treats; options include cornbread muffins, barbecue sauces, peanut butter cups, gummy bears and—the ultimate in culinary Canadiana—butter tarts. The ground rules, according to the experts: beginners should start microdosing at 3 mg per serving and work their way up to 10 mg. It’s best to wait 45 minutes after the first dose before consuming more—it takes at least that long for the high (and the munchies) to kick in. $125 per student. Cannabiscookingcompany.ca.


Part 1: Pot-Luck Dinner The city is teeming with fancy, secret summer clubs serving THC-laced cuisine. We sent our restaurant critic to sample the goods

Part 2: The Pot Pilgrims These five newcomers packed up their lives and moved to Toronto—all for the chance to work in weed

Part 3: Hot Boxes Luxurious designer boutiques are the future of cannabis retail

Part 4: Professors of Pot It’s a stoner’s dream come true: you can finally major in marijuana

Part 5: Plant Managers The favourite strains of the horticulturally gifted growers at the city’s top cannabis companies

Part 6: Baked Goods Wellness gurus are spiking their artisanal lotions and salves with a not-so-secret ingredient. We tested out some of the more intriguing products

Part 7: Buzz Food Cannabis cooking classes—for those who want to cause and cure the munchies in one fell swoop

Part 8: High Rollers We quizzed the city’s most powerful cannabis CEOs on their favourite strains, weed slang and what they eat when they get the munchies

Part 9: Joint Ventures Five of Toronto’s hottest burgeoning canna-companies

Part 10: Who You Gonna Call? The accountants, lawyers and ad agencies carving out a niche in the buzz biz
Courtney Shea is a freelance journalist in Toronto. She started her career as an intern at Toronto Life and continues to contribute frequently to the publication, including her 2022 National Magazine Award–winning feature, “The Death Cheaters,” her regular Q&As and her recent investigation into whether Taylor Swift hung out at a Toronto dive bar (she did not). Courtney was a producer and writer on the 2022 documentary The Talented Mr. Rosenberg, based on her 2014 Toronto Life magazine feature “The Yorkville Swindler.”