Cheech Loves Chicken & I Hate Pot Brownies

New episode of Your Last Meal!

The last time I ate pot was in 2001. It was Summer and I was on the misty Mendocino, California coast visiting my friend, Emma, in her teeny tiny, hippie hometown. Every 4th of July weekend, packs of fire dancing, hemp pants wearing, festival goers rolled into town in their brightly painted school buses and VW vans, and we wanted in on the party. I was a professional weed smoker at this point, having dedicated myself to the sport in my mid-teens, so when a tray of freshly baked pot brownies was presented in Emma’s parents’ kitchen, I eagerly plucked up a square.

There were a handful of us visiting from our northern California college town, and we rambled down to the foggy beach, scrambling over big rocks and huddling on top of boulders, like a raft of cackling sea lions, posing for photos. It was fun…until the brownie kicked in. I’ll spare you most of the details, as I believe “bad trip” stories are as equally dreaded as the retelling of dreams. But the following things occurred: I was scared of the dark! I was hallucinating! I was crying! But I thought I was laughing! I was tucked into bed, under a family quilt, at 7:30p! AREN’T POT BROWNIES FUN?

Back in the day, when home bakers would infuse marijuana into butter or oil, they had NO idea how potent their treats would be! Today, decades after I resigned from my pot eating and smoking career, bakers can control exactly how many milligrams of THC are in every bite.

We talk about modern marijuana munchies on the new episode of Your Last Meal, starring:

It’s Cheech & Chong’s 50th anniversary, and while the epic comedy duo is best known for their cinematic pot smoking antics, Cheech Marin’s palate is far more sophisticated than stoner snacks.

When the enthusiastic cook first tasted chicken marbella, from the legendary Silver Palate cookbook, it was a revelation. Sweet from prunes, briny from capers and olives; it’s no wonder the dish is the best-selling cookbook’s most popular recipe.

Suzanne Rafer, editor of The Silver Palate cookbook, joins the show to talk about how it revolutionized cooking and eating in 1982.

And I chat with chef, cannabis cookbook author, and founder of Laurie + MaryJane edibles, about how far we've come from the ubiquitously potent pot brownie.

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