Common Sense Media Review
By Marty Brown
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Cannabis cooking competition is strictly one note.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 17+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Chopped 420
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
CHOPPED 420 is a cooking competition show that features chefs who specialize in cooking with cannabis. It is hosted by Ron Funches and features a rotating group of judges. Each episode showcases four new competitors, who are given access to a kitchen stocked with food, various strains of marijuana, and many CBD- and THC-infused products. Chefs are also given secret ingredients that must be used in their dish, which can be anything from dandelion greens to French toast pizza. The chefs cook an appetizer, entree, and dessert, and one chef is eliminated after each course until a single winner takes home $10,000.
Is It Any Good?
One byproduct of the legalization of marijuana has been an increased popularity of cooking with it, and the wave of competition shows trying to capitalize on that. Chopped 420 joins Cooking on High, Cooked with Cannabis, Bong Appetite, and other shows that highlight chefs who specialize in cooking with cannabis. The contestant pool is the series' greatest strength, featuring chefs from diverse backgrounds who each have a unique relationship with food and marijuana. Unfortunately, the contestants tend to get overshadowed by Chopped 420's narrow focus on weed. Everything gets brought back to marijuana, and weed jokes have not improved in the nearly 50 years since Cheech and Chong's heyday. Predictably, episodes feature the judges losing their train of thought, getting the munchies, and falling down (and for some reason, cannabis cooking shows all feature a relentless amount of puns). Chopped 420 brings nothing particularly unique to the cooking competition genre, each episode feels almost exactly the same, and at its worst, it reverts to turning marijuana use into a broad stereotype.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about cannabis. Why is cooking with cannabis popular? Why is there a whole show focused on it? What maked Chopped 420 unique?
How do the contestants and judges talk about using cannabis, in food and otherwise? In which ways do they use it medicinally? What about recreationally? What are the benefits of cooking with cannabis?
Which chefs do you find yourself rooting for? Why? What techniques and style choices do the different chefs use on the show?What do you think makes a good dish?
TV Details
- Premiere date : April 20, 2021
- Cast : Ron Funches
- Network : Discovery+
- Genre : Game Shows
- TV rating :
- Last updated : April 22, 2021
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