I didn’t know much about Toklas before reading this book, except that she was the longterm partner of Gertrude Stein, and the subject of Stein’s book, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. So, I was surprised to read the story of The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, published in 1954. Her first cookbook, this was a project that Toklas undertook after Stein’s death, when Stein’s family estate refused to recognize her as the famous writer’s partner. Unable to access her rightful inheritance of Stein’s assets, Toklas was left penniless, and willing to undertake any project she could to keep the lights on. She was asked to write a cookbook, and after struggling to finish the project, she decided to include recipes from friends to bulk up the manuscript. One of these recipes, courtesy of the artist Brion Gysin, was for “Haschich Fudge”... aka, weed brownies. Seemingly unfamiliar with the primary ingredient, Toklas and her editorial team left the recipe untouched, and the book went to print. Allegedly, it wasn’t until critics and readers pointed out the surprising inclusion that Toklas’s publisher realized what they had printed. The ensuing scandal made the project one of the bestselling cookbooks of all time, and linked Toklas’s name forever with that of old Mary Jane.