Chef Ra

Chef Ra (October 10, 1950 – December 26, 2006), born Jim Wilson Jr.,[1] was a long-time cannabis rights 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 Steven 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]

Chef Ra
Chef Ra speaking at 1997 Hash Bash
Born
Jim Wilson Jr.

(1950-10-10)October 10, 1950
Charleston, West Virginia
DiedDecember 26, 2006(2006-12-26) (aged 56)
Urbana, Illinois
EducationUrbana High School
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Culinary career
Cooking styleGanja (marijuana)

Biography

Early life

Although he was born Charleston, West Virginia, by high school, Wilson had moved to the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area. He was the first Black student elected Senior Class President at Urbana High.[3] Wilson was later banned from the football team, because of his association with fellow student Steven Hager,[4] who later hired Wilson to write for High Times.

Writings

Chef Ra's Psychedelic Kitchen column appeared in High Times off and on for 15 years.[4] The articles would weave together Ra's insights on life together with a new ganja recipe.[5] Ra would also report on travels to cannabis culture events.[6]

Filmography

Chef Ra starred in a pair of videos produced by High Times, including Chef Ra Escapes Babylon (1989) and Ganja Gourmet (2003). The former features Ra's visit to Jamaica, and had a rare public screening at the 1998 Freaky Film Festival in Champaign-Urbana.[7] Ra was featured in the short film Bumbaclots in Negril (1999) alongside fellow High Times staffers.

Death

He died of complications from cardiovascular disease on December 26, 2006, at the age of 56.

Further reading
  • 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.

References
  1. Wood, Paul (2006-12-28). "Chef Ra Enjoyed the High Life". The News-Gazette. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-04-10.
  2. "36th Annual Ann Arbor Hash Bash" (Press release). Michigan NORML. 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
  3. Hager, Steven (2012-08-26). "The Chain Whipping Incident". The Tin Whistle. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  4. Hager, Steve (2006-12-26). "RIP James 'Chef Ra' Wilson". High Times. Archived from the original on 2014-09-03. Retrieved 2014-08-29.
  5. "High Times > cooking_with_cannabis". Archived from the original on 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2011-05-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. Chef Ra (2002-06-06). "Jah and the Hash Bash: walking the long road to herbal justice". High Times. Archived from the original on 2015-01-02. Retrieved 2014-08-29.
  7. Pankoke, Jason (2006-12-29). "Chef Ra, 1950-2006". C-U Blogfidential: all about the Movies of Micro-Film Country. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
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