There’s no such thing as an edible that’s effective for everyone. Cheri Sicard, aka Cannabis Cheri, knows this well — and she’s teaching others how to perfect infusions that work for each individual.
Her at-home recipes and do-it-yourself projects have earned her the title of the “Martha Stewart of Weed“.
But, Sicard wasn’t always a proponent of the plant. In fact, she was “once one of the pot-averse females she’s now aiming to educate,” reports the Daily Beast.
“Be Involved, Be Educated, Celebrate”
Before she became the acclaimed foodie, activist and entrepreneur she is today, she traveled the world as a variety arts performer in the circus, and as a magician and mentalist.
“The circus is a traveling melting pot,” says Sicard.
That’s where she realized her passion for food. In addition to visiting local marketplaces, she says, “I would hang out with a lot of the matriarchs of the families, and I learned how to cook all these ethnic foods.”
She combined her love for food, and writing — and in 1996, founded FabulousFood.com, one of the largest online recipe sites at the time.
In 2002, Sicard’s first book, The Great American Handbook, was published. The book is described as a guidebook to patriotism, and offers 101 suggestions on how to be involved, educated, and how to celebrate American heritage.
She also authored U.S. Citizenship for Dummies (2003), The Low Carb Restaurant Guide (2004), Everyday American (2008), and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Easy Freezer Meals (2011), among other books.
After making a career of teaching others about cuisine, and citizenship — she made the move into the cannabis space where her mantra, “be involved, be educated, celebrate,” still resonates.
Closeted Smoker to Educated Activist
Cannabis entered Sicard’s life in her late 30s.
“I came late to the party,” she explains. Aside from an occasional toke at a soiree, she says she never really consumed it — not until her doctor recommended it for chronic nausea.
“It worked for that, plus a whole lot of other things,” she says, including gastrointestinal issues, and symptoms of depression.
“It dramatically changed my life,” Sicard adds.
But, she was raised on Reefer Madness. Despite the positive effects she experienced, Sicard still worried she was harming herself by using cannabis.
“That’s when I immersed myself in the subject, and I realized I had been taught a lie,” she says. “That really pissed me off.”
Cheri Sicard: Political Junkie on a Mission
What rattled her most was that her earlier work focused on how the U.S. is supposed to work. Once she learned the truth about the Drug War, she says, “I couldn’t shut up about it.”
Sicard went from being a closed smoker to an outspoken activist. “I haven’t been back since,” she adds.
She turned her anger into activism and began advocating for prisoners currently serving life sentences for cannabis offenses.
For the most part, the public is unaware that there is such a thing as people who are serving life for pot, Sicard explains. “When I tell people, it’s shocking to them. They think, ‘There’s got to be more involved, there’s got to be dead bodies somewhere.’ But no — it’s just for marijuana.
Sicard works to raise awareness, and rally public support via social media for those serving life for cannabis.
Whether it’s organizing fundraisers or garnering support for clemency efforts, Sicard’s goal is to “to make sure [the prisoners] know that the public is watching.”
The work is rewarding, Sicard explains, “We’ve seen a lot of victories.” However, there is a long way to go toward righting the wrongs of the Drug War.
This is where her experience as an entertainer helps serve her in her advocacy work. “The show goes on no matter what,” she explains. “No matter how discouraging it gets, you can’t give up.”
Evolving into a Cannabis Foodie
When cannabis became part of her life, it became part of her food, too.
Naturally, Sicard began to cook with cannabis. Though she was an experienced cook and professional recipe developer — she had to learn the basics of combining the two.
“There wasn’t great information out there at the time. Most of the cookbooks out there weren’t great, and had conflicting information,” she adds. “I had to learn what worked and what didn’t on my own.”
She had her fair share of failures. One of which she describes on her newly launched Cannademy website.
“[…] When I first started trying to cook with cannabis, there was a great three-day camp-out music festival that a lot of my friends can barely remember. That’s because most of them slept through it.”
Sicard explains that was due to overestimated tolerances, and her lack of knowledge about making edibles for a crowd.
She learned there’s no one size fits all model for edibles. So, she began to hone-in simple, effective recipes.
That’s when she made her move the world of cannabis and food, becoming a leader in infused recipe development for home chefs.
In 2012, she self-published The Cannabis Gourmet Cookbook, followed by Mary Jane: The Complete Marijuana Handbook (2015), and most recently, The Easy Cannabis Cookbook (2018).
Her books have gained mainstream attention; Mary Jane is sold at Urban Outfitters, and the Easy Cookbook became the top seller in its category after its release.
Now, Sicard is taking her skill sets to digital audiences through a series of online courses.
A Pretty Magical Thing
Sicard’s courses focus on the nuances of cooking with cannabis. Topics currently range from skincare to easy cooking for home chefs. She even offers a free course on how to properly dose edibles.
Sicard aims to help consumers who are confused, and inundated with bad information or experiences.
She believes that there’s no such thing as an infused product that works for everyone. This is, in part, why she is focused on teaching others how to create — and properly dose — their own infusions.
Affordability is also a motivation.
Learning how to create your own topicals, for example, can be cost-effective and work just as well or better than products on the market because recipes can be personalized, Sicard explains.
What sets her courses apart from others is that she directly consults and troubleshoots with her students.
Because everybody reacts differently, she says, “I really try to focus on where that spot is for them — which can be a pretty magical thing.”
A personal, and fan-favorite topical recipe is her Lavender Green Tea Whipped Cannabis Body Butter, which is made with Matcha Green Tea powder, beeswax, and hemp seed oil among other ingredients.
Sicard teaches a free course on how to make the body butter at home with three basic ingredients: coconut oil, cannabis, and tapioca flour or cornstarch. She also offers a tutorial on how to upgrade the recipe with essential oils, extracts, teas and more.
In terms of dishes, Sicard’s favorites are savory and spicy infusions, like pizza, or barbeque shrimp, she shares.
She does have a foodie pet peeve; Gummies, or fat-free infusions.
“Cannabis is better in foods that contain fat,” she explains.
That’s because cannabinoids, like THC and CBD, are fat-soluble, meaning they need fats to dissolve and become bioavailable.
In fact, a recent University of Minnesota study finds that “CBD exposure is vastly increased when CBD is taken with high fatty foods.”
Because of that, Sicard warns consumers to steer clear of fat-free edibles; “Down with fat-free gummies!”
Sicard credits her success to her brutal honesty. She won’t give you any bullshit, she assures. While she admits that people don’t always like what she tells them, it’s a definite strength in an industry so wrought with misinformation.
Her advice to others is not to be hesitant about cannabis as she was.
“Get over that. This is something that is good for you. It’s healthy and has long term preventive health benefits.”
Cannabis should be celebrated, not treated as a vice, she says.
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