Hemp: Out of the Fields and Onto Menus

By CHRISTINE MUHLKE

NEW YORK Hemp may be illegal to grow in the United States, but luckily
for the owner of the Galaxy, a Gramercy Park restaurant, it's not illegal
to eat. The seeds and oil of Cannabis sativa, the plant used to make
everything from rope to plastics, is a feature on the eclectic menu at the
Galaxy, one of the few places in the country to bring the plant to the plate.

Since October, the Galaxy's chef, Deb Stanton, and its owner, Denis Cicero,
have prepared everything from hemp waffles to mesclun with a vinaigrette of
hemp seed oil, miso and ginger, and fusilli salad with black beans,
spinach, roasted corn and a tomato sauce made with hemp seed oil and curry.
And then there's dessert: chocolate bananas Foster with hemp seedstudded
brittle or apple pie with a crust made with hemp flour.

"It started as a way to increase dialogue about hemp and public awareness
of its nutritional and ecological benefits," said Cicero, who has been
studying the plant's culinary potential since the late '70s, when he began
cooking with it. Over the years, he approached the chefs at other
restaurants he managed, including the Odeon, but they scoffed at his bag of
greenishbrown seeds.

It wasn't until he hired Ms. Stanton to cook at the Galaxy, which opened
last May at 15 Irving Place (15th Street), that he found a kindred spirit.
"One day he pulled me aside and said, 'I've got something to show you,' "
Ms. Stanton said. "I said, 'It looks like pot seeds.' I'd tasted gimmicky
hemp products, but they left me wondering what hemp really tasted like."

So what does hemp taste like? A cross between hazelnut and walnut, many
people say. In her tiny open kitchen, Ms. Stanton has experimented with
toasting the seeds whole or milling them in a coffee grinder and mixing
them with other flours and seeds to create different textures and flavors.

Whether the flour is used for blackened catfish or the seeds ground and
mixed with vegetables to make a garden burger, hemp's nutty flavor stands
out, surprising diners who don't read the menu carefully. Since hemp was
introduced to the menu last fall, a handful of hemp dishes are now
featured. Everything costs less than $10, so it's possible to sample
without spending a fortune.

Advocates of alternative health care have long championed hemp as both food
and medicine. Hemp seed oil, which is a deeper green than extravirgin
olive oil, is rich in essential fatty acids. Marion Nestle, the chairwoman
of the department of nutrition and food studies at New York University,
said, "The claims being made are those made for any unsaturated seed oil,
and some of them will be valid and some won't. You have to watch out for
calories, as with any oil."

And what about the seeds? "These seeds are really small," Dr. Nestle said.
"Unless you eat lots of them, you're not going to be getting a lot of
nutritional value."

At brunch at the Galaxy, Cynthia Furlong ordered the hempflecked waffles
with Tahitian vanilla ice cream and fruit. "They have a different flavor,"
she said. "I'm an Eggo person at home, but I really like this." Then she
rolled her eyes and said, "Of course, I wouldn't know what hemp tastes like
myself."

A few other places across the country are experimenting with hemp. Sharon's
Finest, a healthfood company in Santa Rosa, Calif., produces the Hempeh
Burger and Hemprella, a cheese substitute made from hemp milk, which the
Laughing Planet Cafe in Bloomington, Ind., uses on its burgers.

But no other restaurant has a menu as extensive as the Galaxy's, Cicero said.

"About 95 percent of the people who come here ask me, 'What is hemp?' "
Cicero said. He is prepared for such questions, as are his staff, who
explain the seed's benefits and that no, your meal will not make you high.

In fact, a guidebook called "Industrial Hemp: Practical Products Paper
to Fabric to Cosmetics" (Hemptech, 1995) puts it this way: "If one were to
roll the leaves from an industrial hemp plant into a cigarette and smoke
them, no euphoric effects would be experienced even if a thousand hemp
cigarettes were smoked."

Nonetheless, people still confuse the fibrous plant known as industrial
hemp with the other strain of Cannabis, marijuana, known for its
psychoactive properties.

Cicero and Ms. Stanton are collaborating with hemp growers around the world
to discover new culinary uses: infusions (for tea), candy bars, breadsticks
and crepe batter are all in the works. They hope to manufacture these and
other products, like hemp soda and vanillahemp coffee, and to produce a
cookbook.

Cicero buys his hemp seeds from producers in China, Hungary and
Switzerland, and he plans to sell the seeds and oil at his restaurant
within the month. Seeds can also be ordered from the Ohio Hempery, P.O. Box
18, Guysville, Ohio 45735; (800) 2894367.

While he admits that hemp is a potentially good marketing tool, Cicero
wants to raise awareness about the plant. "Industrial Hemp" notes that
until growing hemp became illegal in the United States in 1937, "it was
inconceivable for an economy to function without hemp."

"People are fascinated by it not necessarily because of the culinary
aspect," Cicero said, "People want to try new things. From Day 1, I said
this was going to be a place with a sense of humor."

Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company