Chef Ra
| Chef Ra | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 10, 1950 Charleston, West Virginia |
| Died |
December 26, 2006 (aged 56) Urbana, Illinois |
| Education | Urbana High School where he was class president his senior year. He attended University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
|
Culinary career | |
| Cooking style | Ganja (marijuana) |
Chef Ra (October 10, 1950 – December 26, 2006), born Jim Wilson, Jr.,[1] was a long-time cannabis advocate and cannabis foods writer in the United States. After gaining notoriety as a ganja gourmet and appearing on the November 1987 cover of High Times, he began writing "Chef Ra's Psychedelic Kitchen" in 1988 at the request of magazine editor Steve Hager. Ra was a fixture of Ann Arbor's Hash Bash, speaking out about the benefits of cannabis for 19 consecutive years before his death.[2]
Writings
"Chef Ra's Psychedelic Kitchen" column appeared in High Times off and on for 15 years.[3] The articles would weave together Ra's insights on life together with a new ganja recipe. Ra would also report on travels to cannabis culture events.[4] Selected columns from Chef Ra's Recipe Box remain available online.
Filmography
Chef Ra starred in a pair of videos produced by High Times, including Ganja Gourmet (2003) and Chef Ra Escapes Babylon (1980s). The latter features Ra’s visit to Jamaica, and had a rare public screening at the 1998 Freaky Film Festival in Champaign-Urbana.[5] Ra was featured in the short film Bumbaclots in Negril (1999) alongside fellow High Times staffers.
References
- ↑ Wood, Paul (2006-12-28). "Chef Ra Enjoyed the High Life". The News-Gazette. Retrieved 2007-04-10.
- ↑ "36th Annual Ann Arbor Hash Bash" (Press release). Michigan NORML. 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
- ↑ Hager, Steve (2006-12-26). "RIP James 'Chef Ra' Wilson". High Times. Retrieved 2014-08-29.
- ↑ Chef Ra (2002-06-06). "Jah and the Hash Bash: walking the long road to herbal justice". High Times. Retrieved 2014-08-29.
- ↑ Pankoke, Jason (2006-12-29). "Chef Ra, 1950-2006". C-U Blogfidential: all about the Movies of Micro-Film Country. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
External links
- Chef Ra MySpace page
- Chef Ra speaking at 2006 Hash Bash on YouTube
- Excerpt from Bumbaclots in Negril (1999) on YouTube, featuring Chef Ra
- Wood, Paul (2003-09-17). "Local Man's Recipes Give New Meaning to Potluck". The News-Gazette. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
- Gorman, Kyle (2005-07-07). "High Times and Reggae Music with Chef Ra". Buzz magazine. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
- In Memoriam: Chef Ra at the Wayback Machine (archived July 28, 2011), including many photos from the WEFT archives.