Robyn Griggs Lawrence - Pot in Pans: A History of Eating Cannabis

Pot in Pans

Rowman & Littlefield Studies in Food and Gastronomy

General Editor: Ken Albala, Professor of History, University of the Pacific ()

Rowman & Littlefield Executive Editor: Suzanne Staszak-Silva ()

Food studies is a vibrant and thriving field encompassing not only cooking and eating habits but also issues such as health, sustainability, food safety, and animal rights. Scholars in disciplines as diverse as history, anthropology, sociology, literature, and the arts focus on food. The mission of Rowman & Littlefield Studies in Food and Gastronomy is to publish the best in food scholarship, harnessing the energy, ideas, and creativity of a wide array of food writers today. This broad line of food-related titles will range from food history, interdisciplinary food studies monographs, general interest series, and popular trade titles to textbooks for students and budding chefs, scholarly cookbooks, and reference works.

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Pot in Pans: A History of Eating Cannabis , Robyn Griggs Lawrence

Pot in Pans

A History of Eating Cannabis

Robyn Griggs Lawrence

Foreword by Chris Kilham

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Lawrence, Robyn Griggs, author.

Title: Pot in pans : a history of eating cannabis / Robyn Griggs Lawrence.

Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, an imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc., [2019] | Series: Rowman & Littlefield studies in food and gastronomy | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018051090 (print) | LCCN 2018051496 (ebook) | ISBN 9781538106983 (electronic) | ISBN 9781538106976 (cloth : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Cooking (Marijuana) | Snack foods. | Desserts. | LCGFT: Cookbooks.

Classification: LCC TX819.M25 (ebook) | LCC TX819.M25 L38 2019 (print) | DDC 641.6/379dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018051090

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

Foreword

R obyn Griggs Lawrence cant seem to get out of the kitchen, and that is indeed wonderful news for readers. The author of the delightful The Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook is still in the kitchen, though apparently with a huge stack of books, articles, obscure references, delightful stories, outlandish events, funny scenes, and hard-to-find facts scattered all about. If information and history were spices, Pot in Pans is a fabulously well-seasoned recipe.

Instead of the fragrance of dishes cooking on the stove, Robyns writing does the tantalizing, hooking your senses until your appetite, stoked by the delicious tale she weaves, moves you to sit down, get comfortable, and read deeply. I can imagine her late at night, combing through references, cross-referring, and getting excited by a new gem, whether it has to do with the hair-splitting definitions that have caused confusion in the world of cannabis or the discovery of a quirky historical character. Simply put, this is a wonderful read, and Robyn evidently had a great time pursuing the long and complex tale of cannabis as a food throughout history. We are the beneficiaries of her long nights and fastidious investigations.

Pot in Pans takes the reader on a merry if bumpy romp through the history of cannabis as food. In the process, Robyn conjures a delectable blend of impressive obscurata (women in Uzbekistan made a traditional cannabis food called guc-kand , who knew?) to a wonderful elucidation of key events in the tumultuous history of weed, such as the bullish efforts of Americas first drug czar Harry J. Anslinger to malign cannabis and the roots of the Rastafari religion. From Herodotus to Alice B. Toklas to the Beats, Robyn introduces us to the figures who have played influential roles in the trajectory of cannabis throughout culture and shares some of their potent mind-bending recipes. From the grassy pot brownies of Alice B. Toklas to space cakes in the coffee shops of Amsterdam, she wanders the cannabis landscape, making mycelial connections between the Scythians and Harvard, Tantric yogis and the Vietnam War. The story comes together so smoothly and in such an entertaining way, its easy to fritter the night away going from page one to the end.

The history of cannabis and its consumption as a food is one of intrigue, false narratives, ardent advocates, belligerent opponents, sneaky recipes, jubilant hash eaters, ham-fisted law-enforcement agencies, stoned literati, and a collection of characters that define diversity itself. It is also the tale of a tough plant that has survived not only the last ice age but the slings and arrows of misfortune, misrepresentation, idiocy, deceit, treachery, and a litany of lies heaped high and piled deep. I found myself reading Robyns account with laughter, rage, and more than a few shakes of my head, following the serpentine curves of this plants maneuvers through human history.