Pot in Pans

A History of Eating Cannabis

Robyn Griggs Lawrence

Pot in Pans: A History of Eating Weed is a comprehensive history of cannabis as a unique culinary ingredient, from ancient India and Persia to today’s explosive new market. Cannabis, the hottest new global food trend, has been providing humans with nutrition, medicine, and solace – against all odds – since the earliest cavepeople discovered its powers. In colorful detail, the book explores the debate over the cannabis plant’s taxonomy and nomenclature, then follows as it co-evolves with humans throughout history, beloved by the masses, reviled by the elite, and shrouded in conflict and secrecy.

The story is held together by the thread of the Islamic confection majoun, created to manipulate a band of twelfth-century fedayeen, a legend that later inspired Western intellectuals and literati to discover and enjoy hashish and majoun. It’s the story of how a U.S. drug czar got cannabis prohibited around the world and how some cultures worked around that. It’s the story of how a recipe for majoun made its way into the hands of Alice B. Toklas, an ex-pat in Paris, and then into the pages of a cookbook published in New York and London, leading to a major mix-up in a major motion picture that morphed majouninto the pot brownie and turned the pot brownie into a Western icon forevermore. From the rowdy band of artists, rebels, and intellectuals who partook of majoun’s charms and to an activist who made the pot brownie a symbol of compassion, it’s the story of how cannabis cookery and hash eating survived through decades of global prohibition and the birth of a skies-the-limit cannabis-infused food industry. Along the way, Robyn Griggs Lawrence explores the medicinal qualities of cannabis and its resurgence as a both a recreational drug and a respite from various illnesses and ailments. With recipes and stories throughout, this work is sure to entertain and inform readers about the history of cannabis as an edible ingredient in a variety of foods.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 224 • Trim: 5¾ x 9

978-1-5381-0697-6 • Hardback • May 2019 • $42.00 • (£35.00)

978-1-5381-0698-3 • eBook • May 2019 • $39.50 • (£30.00)

Series: Rowman & Littlefield Studies in Food and Gastronomy

Subjects: Cooking / History, Cooking / Health & Healing / General, Cooking / Specific Ingredients / General, Health & Fitness / Alternative Therapies

Pot in Pans

A History of Eating Cannabis

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Pot in Pans: A History of Eating Weed is a comprehensive history of cannabis as a unique culinary ingredient, from ancient India and Persia to today’s explosive new market. Cannabis, the hottest new global food trend, has been providing humans with nutrition, medicine, and solace – against all odds – since the earliest cavepeople discovered its powers. In colorful detail, the book explores the debate over the cannabis plant’s taxonomy and nomenclature, then follows as it co-evolves with humans throughout history, beloved by the masses, reviled by the elite, and shrouded in conflict and secrecy.

The story is held together by the thread of the Islamic confection majoun, created to manipulate a band of twelfth-century fedayeen, a legend that later inspired Western intellectuals and literati to discover and enjoy hashish and majoun. It’s the story of how a U.S. drug czar got cannabis prohibited around the world and how some cultures worked around that. It’s the story of how a recipe for majoun made its way into the hands of Alice B. Toklas, an ex-pat in Paris, and then into the pages of a cookbook published in New York and London, leading to a major mix-up in a major motion picture that morphed majouninto the pot brownie and turned the pot brownie into a Western icon forevermore. From the rowdy band of artists, rebels, and intellectuals who partook of majoun’s charms and to an activist who made the pot brownie a symbol of compassion, it’s the story of how cannabis cookery and hash eating survived through decades of global prohibition and the birth of a skies-the-limit cannabis-infused food industry. Along the way, Robyn Griggs Lawrence explores the medicinal qualities of cannabis and its resurgence as a both a recreational drug and a respite from various illnesses and ailments. With recipes and stories throughout, this work is sure to entertain and inform readers about the history of cannabis as an edible ingredient in a variety of foods.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 224 • Trim: 5¾ x 9

978-1-5381-0697-6 • Hardback • May 2019 • $42.00 • (£35.00)

978-1-5381-0698-3 • eBook • May 2019 • $39.50 • (£30.00)

Series: Rowman & Littlefield Studies in Food and Gastronomy

Subjects: Cooking / History, Cooking / Health & Healing / General, Cooking / Specific Ingredients / General, Health & Fitness / Alternative Therapies

Author

Robyn Griggs Lawrence is the author of the bestselling Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook, an instructor for a popular Green Flower Media course, The Fundamentals of Cooking with Cannabis, and a contributing editor for Sensi magazine. She also authored The Wabi-Sabi House and Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Time magazine, Bloomberg, The Guardian, High Times, Fast Company, Alternet, Huffington Post, Food Republic, and more. She lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Chris Kilham

Introduction

Chapter 1: Cavepeople Ate Cannabis

Chapter 2: Food of the Ancients

Chapter 3: Revelry and Revilement

Chapter 4: Pot Brownies and Space Cakes

Chapter 5: An Industry is Born

Chapter 6: Future Feast or Famine?

Recipes Through the Ages

Glossary of Terms

Reviews

States across the U.S. struggle to revise laws surrounding use and production of cannabis, and one state’s action forces others to reconsider their own ordinances. In addition to discussing these legalities, Lawrence here shares her research on the history of cannabis over the centuries, focusing on how pot is used in cooking. . . . An extensive bibliography offers a great jumping off spot for further research.
— Booklist

Expert author Robyn Griggs Lawrence proves to be an ace tour guide for this culinary trip through time, space, spices, and plants.
— Merry Jane

In Pot in Pans: A History of Eating Cannabis, by Robyn Griggs Lawrence, the history of cannabis is viewed from a different lens: how different cultures incorporate cannabis into food recipes throughout time, dating back to cave men. The use of cannabis in food, not just as nourishment but to improve the quality of life, is a common theme throughout the book. . . . This book weaves tales of cannabis use in art with political drug wars, all while keeping food at the forefront. Most importantly, though, Pot in Pans teaches people about the unknown history of the intersection of cannabis and cuisine. The book explore the way people consume cannabis throughout history and weaves in stories of how academics and creatives used the plant for productivity. Furthermore, Pot in Pans explores details most people don’t consider when baking infused cuisine: the origin of the word cannabis, the beginning of the sativa and indica label, and the complicated science behind identifying where the plants exist throughout history.

Readers of this book will have a deeper appreciation of the plant and will better understand the complex past of cannabis.
— Bud.com Blog

Lawrence really covers the subject with enthusiasm here -- the book flings madly around the world, and in just over 200 pages, touches on nearly every instance of edible cannabis ever recorded. There are Hindu legends and stories of Middle Eastern rituals, British accounts of drinking bhang in India, and tales of artists in Paris enjoying the drug in salons. There's a list of slang terms (of course there is), breakdowns of the plant's parts, and a catalog of the types of extracts and how they're made. . . . If you've ever wondered about the history of cannabis as food (or if you're surprised to hear that there is one), this is probably the best fact-per-dollar value you'll find on the subject -- it's an excellent broad introduction, and you might be surprised at how detailed the history of edibles can be.
— The Elegant Stoner

A delicious, uplifting romp through human's long, complicated history with cannabis, “Pots in Pans” is multilayered, entertaining, and incredibly informative—a must read for anyone who’s a fan of the fan leaves. Robyn’s book is part history lesson, part cultural commentary, with more than a dash of the author's signature wit and wry humor, which is clear from the cleverly titled start. It had me laughing out loud and taking pages of notes.
— Stephanie Wilson, Sensi Magazine, Editor in Chief

Pot in Pans is the thrilling saga of one of the planet's most useful and controversial plants that has long been woven into the human tapestry of food, medicine and survival.
— Brigitte Mars, author of The Country Almanac of Home Remedies

I am in awe of the research that must have gone into this in-depth exploration of the history, cultural and societal implications, and lore of edible cannabis. After following Robyn Griggs Lawrence's fascinating journey through the ages, you'll never look at a marijuana brownie the same way again.

— Cheri Sicard

“Instead of the fragrance of dishes cooking on the stove, Robyn’s 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.”
— Chris Kilham, Medicine Hunter