Zero-Pesticide Sungrown Cannabis
📸 Photo credit: Julia Stotz
If you’ve ever wished someone would make cannabis edibles both delicious and approachable, meet Vanessa Lavorato. A UC Berkeley grad turned chocolatier, television host, and cookbook author, Vanessa has spent over a decade proving that edibles can be elevated, safe, and downright fun.
Her new book, How to Eat Weed & Have a Good Time, is more than a cookbook—it’s a playful yet practical guide to cannabis cuisine.
Vanessa is a California-born chef, chocolatier, and entrepreneur. In 2010 she founded Marigold Sweets, an artisanal chocolate brand known for sea-salt caramels and other premium edibles. Her goal from the start: combine flavor, quality, and safe dosing in an industry where brownies wrapped in plastic once dominated shelves.
“Chocolate lasts longer than brownies or cookies in dispensaries. Sugar is a natural preservative—perfect for cannabis edibles that need shelf life.” – Vanessa Lavorato
Her reputation for precision and creativity caught the attention of Vice Media, where she became a co-host and culinary producer of the James Beard–nominated show Bong Appétit.
On Bong Appétit, Vanessa helped design multi-course cannabis dinners with carefully dosed dishes. The show forced her to answer real-world questions home cooks face:
How long should cannabis butter infuse?
Can you decarb and infuse at the same time?
How do you keep a dinner guest “comfortably high” instead of overwhelmed?
She responded with lab testing, trial-and-error, and a commitment to education. One of her biggest takeaways: always include non-infused options at a cannabis dinner so people can keep eating after they’re elevated without accidentally overdoing it.
Published by Simon & Schuster in April 2025, Vanessa’s cookbook blends science, storytelling, and crave-worthy recipes. Each recipe is designed to be:
Delicious on its own—even without cannabis.
Flexible, with clear per-serving dosing so you control your experience.
Playful and witty, reflecting her belief that food and cannabis are sensory, joyful, and communal.
Expect recipes like pot peanut butter, infused sauces, mocktail-style drinks, and desserts designed for shelf stability. Her guiding principle? Start low, go slow, and always prioritize pleasure.
Photo credit: Julia Stotz
Unlike mass-market edibles, Vanessa approaches cannabis like a chef:
Strain Pairing: She chooses fruit-forward cultivars (like cherry cheesecake) that complement chocolate and caramel instead of clashing with bitter or gassy notes.
Shelf Stability: She leans into fudge, hot cocoa, and caramel over brownies because they survive retail storage and heat.
Dosing: She emphasizes education, encouraging new consumers to start with 2–5 mg THC and always label products clearly (“special” isn’t enough—write “THC” and dosage on everything”).
This balance of artistry and responsibility is what sets her work apart.
While her debut cookbook is all about having a good time, Vanessa is already dreaming about what’s next: a more health-focused cannabis cookbook created in collaboration with medical experts.
Future projects may pair cannabis with foods that support:
Sleep (chamomile, calming herbs)
Gut health (fiber-rich recipes for the microbiome)
Liver support (foods that ease metabolism of edibles)
Her north star is clear: cannabis edibles can be both joyful and functional.
📚 Book: How to Eat Weed & Have a Good Time (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, indie bookstores)
🍫 Edibles: Marigold Sweets available at Cornerstone Wellness in Los Angeles
🎥 YouTube: The Edibles Club – live every Wednesday (Club Sesh, 4:20 PT) & Saturday (Kitchen Sesh)
📲 Instagram/Twitter: @vanessamarigold
Vanessa Lavorato has spent years elevating the cannabis edible beyond clichés. With her book, livestreams, and chocolates, she’s teaching a new generation that cannabis cuisine can be flavorful, safe, and endlessly fun.
If the future of edibles is equal parts craft, clarity, and joy, Vanessa is already cooking it.
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