Recreational legalization has changed things. Yes, it’s given us recreational dispensaries, but it’s really kicked the world of weed media into gear. With our love of cooking competition shows, it only makes sense that a weed-infused cooking competition show has surfaced. Cooking on High is Netflix’s newest culinary venture, a clear attempt to be the first platform to nab that low-hanging fruit of a premise. Perhaps they should have waited a bit longer though — Cooking on High simply isn’t ready. It’s pretty undercooked.
A Little Too Stoney
The biggest issue with Cooking on High is that the whole thing feels a bit amateur. How are people supposed to take weed seriously if the show itself doesn’t take it seriously? Rather than focus on the idea of people cooking high-quality, cannabis-infused meals, they’ve focused on stoney baloney antics. It actually seems like the food is an afterthought, which, ya know, maybe isn’t the best move for a food show.
Add to that the fact that the whole thing is shot on a tiny soundstage with a very unimpressive kitchen, the whole thing feels like a bad web series.
The Format is Uninspired
Here’s the way the show works: two chefs are given a theme, and they need to cook an edible that matches that theme. The themes are hot garbage. One of them was “Baked Potato”, which is not so much a theme as it is just the name of a food. The chefs cook their one item, constricted to a time limit that is never shown on screen, and present it to the judges.
The judges then rate the dish on scale of one to ten by holding up a spatula with a green number on it.