| Cannabis Cheri |
| Cheri Sicard’s “The Cannabis Gourmet Cookbook” has something for everyone’s taste. You can get it for $24.95. |
It’s becoming more and more difficult, if you write a cannabis cookbook, to separate your work from an increasingly crowded field. With the burgeoning library of marijuana recipe collections becoming ever more competitive, if you want your pot cookbook to get noticed, you’d better be good.
That hasn’t been a problem for Cheri Sicard, author of The Cannabis Gourmet Cookbook.
A long time before Sicard wrote a book about cooking with marijuana, she was already a cooking expert and author. You see, Sicard has led an interesting life, spending much of her childhood and early adult life traveling the country as a circus performer, magician and mentalist. Along the way, she started writing about travel and food. She was a professional food writer and recipe developer before she became a medical marijuana patient.
She had already created the popular cooking website FabulousFoods.com and wrote The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Easy Freezer Meals [2011, Alpha Books], and edited the freezer and make-ahead cooking blog CheriOnIce.com.
| Cannabis Cheri |
| Cheri Sicard’s “The Cannabis Gourmet Cookbook” has something for everyone’s taste. You can get it for $24.95. |
A Deep South transplant to the West Coast, Cheri was almost 40 when she entered the medicinal cannabis community, after her doctor suggested around 2009 — off the record, since the hospital where he worked “didn’t allow it” — that she try marijuana to help with a chronic nausea problem that a variety of prescription drugs had failed to help.
The marijuana worked immediately — and what’s more, after having regularly used antidepressant prescriptions for years, she found that cannabis did the job for her, without the unwanted side effects of harsh pharmaceuticals. Lifelong chronic digestive problems disappeared, too.
Cheri marveled at the positive impact of cannabis on her quality of life, but at the same time — mindful of the anti-marijuana propaganda so prevalent in our culture — she worried that she might be somehow doing herself harm. So she started reading up on the subject, even going so far as to attend Oaksterdam University in Oakland, California, widely considered to be the cannabis industry’s top training institution.
The more she learned, the more Sicard was bowled over by the abundant scientific evidence that the marijuana she was using not only improved specific symptoms, but also positively impacted overall health and well-being. She found herself outraged by government hypocrisy surrounding cannabis and the War On Drugs and was especially dismayed that people are still being jailed over this benevolent plant.
| Cannabis Cheri |
Over the course of six months, Cheri went from the typical fearfully closeted American marijuana user to an outspoken cannabis advocate and Drug War opponent. She had found it impossible to keep quiet about all the astounding medical research that is routinely ignored by mainstream media and the government, and started talking about it to everyone she knew.
When she isn’t cooking and developing delicious new recipes, Cheri can often be found speaking at civic meetings and city and county councils, organizing rallies, teaching classes, and attending court supports for medical marijuana defendants.
One startling fact she soon noticed among many of the middle-aged patients who could benefit from medicinal cannabis was that, even among those who “used to smoke” but no longer used, it was always something like “I stopped because of my job” or “I had kids” or “I just didn’t think I should anymore.”
“I have never had one person tell me that they stopped using marijuana because it was causing them problems — not one!” Sicard said.
Bringing the rich culinary traditions of her native Mississippi to the table, along with the healthful options of modern American cooking, Sicard’s book can quickly expand the horizons of patients who think only of, say, the old reliable brownies when the words “cannabis edibles” are mentioned.
The cookbook includes chapters of recipes for Snacks & Appetizers, Soups, Salads & Salad Dressings, Brunch & Lunch, Main Courses, Sides & Extras, Beverages, and Desserts.
Steamed Artichoke? Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Figs? Meatballs? Sliders? Carrot Soup? Fruit Salad-Stuffed Cantaloupe? Vinaigrette (Italian or Asian style)? Chocolate Chip Banana Bread? Eggs Benedict? Bean & Cheese Burritos? Vegetable Lasagna? Lobster Newburg? Cornish Game Hens? Medicated Meatballs? Pork Chops, Dinner Rolls, Biscuits, Cheesecake??
You can find recipes for all of these and many, many more in The Cannabis Gourmet Cookbook.
A bit of good news: Cheri tells us she’s already hard at work on Volume 2! So lots more deliciousness is on the way.
To order your own copy of the cookbook ($24.95 in the U.S.), visit www.cannabischeri.com.