Willie and Annie Nelson's Cannabis Cookbook

October 21, 2024
Country music star and longtime marijuana advocate Nelson (Energy Follows Thought) teams up with wife Annie for a charming collection of hearty, cannabis-infused dishes that goes well beyond the brownies and cookies readers might expect. Novices to cannabis cooking will find an approachable introduction with helpful dosage guidelines leading into a diverse array of hippie-ish grub—both homestyle (kale soup with sun-dried tomatoes) and elevated (vegan carrot lox)—that will tempt palates whether or not the THC is included. The recipes could be better organized, with chapter names like “Food and Fun” giving little indication as to their contents, and freewheeling sequencing that places squid ink paella directly after bourbon pecan bars. More successful is the Nelsons’ singular storytelling, which provides a vibrant through line as they share culinary memories, alternately hilarious and sentimental. In an introduction to a group of pork recipes, for example, Willie writes, “Somewhere in the lost years of the sixties, I fashioned myself a pig farmer. It was in the middle of a harsh winter when I bought seventeen weaner pigs for a quarter a pound and, genius that I am, wound up selling them six months later for seventeen cents a pound.” Fans of the songwriter will find much to savor in this feel-good offering.