Munchies

Cannabis is the most widely used drug in the world. It particularly enjoys popularity in US and Canada, Italy, Spain, Australia and New Zealand, all with 10% or more of their 15–64 year old population making use of weed at least one a year.

With incredible regularity across countries, Google searches for ‘weed’, ‘kiffen’, ‘marijuana’ start growing really fast at 9–10pm and peak at about 1–2am. So it’s fair to assume that the actual use of weed also follows the same pattern and that most smoking in the world happens at night. Not enough proof? Well, Bob Marley searches also peak at 1–2 am every night, so case closed. It also makes sense. People are busy during the day anyways and, at night, when your parents, roommates or kids are sleeping, you can have a lot more privacy and relax.

It is a medical fact that smoking weed makes you incredibly hungry, in a phenomenon that is generally referred to as “munchies”. Smoking weed activates nerve cells in the hypothalamus which control the appetite, generating a sudden desire to stuff yourself with food. It is then natural that the hungry smokers start digging into their fridges and, if empty-handed, get their phones out and order food deliveries (not much is open late at night in most places). In fact, Google searches for deliveries have a late-night peak too, although a bit later, at about 3–4am.

Pizza seems to be the top choice for munchies worldwide when delivering late at night. However, looking at Google Trends, the local preferences seem to follow the same taste as the prevalent late night food in a country. McDonald’s and kebabs are strong. Pastries are big in Italy. In the US, GrubHub reports that most college towns love pizza but also mac and cheese, cheesy bread, buffalo wings. Anything greasy and stuffy seems to work and it definitely makes for good business for restaurants choosing to stay open until late.