In Psyche Delicacies, globetrotting medicine hunter Chris Kilham presents passionate portraits of five widely used psychoactive plants that, he argues, have affected the course of human history. From the lush coffee orchards of Hawaii's Kona Coast to the cannabis-covered hills of the Indian Himalaya, Kilham takes readers along on a world tour to meet the people and places that make coffee, chocolate, chiles, kava, and cannabis what they are to us today. Employing evocative and sometimes provocative prose to weave history, folklore, and science into a dazzling whole, Kilham presents a mind-expanding case for the enthusiastic, guilt-free use of these much-loved plants and their various preparations.
Few adults haven't partaken of at least one of the featured psyche delicacies, and that's the author's point. Maintaining that we all can benefit from the reverie induced by consuming these mood-altering plants, Kilham presents clinical and academic evidence to handily dispatch the notion that these agents of nature, taken in moderation, are some-how bad for us. Instead, he asserts that they refresh both body and mind, helping us to achieve the very highest order of healthfulness. Whether you are an avid coffee drinker, a hot-chile devotee, a casual cannabis user, or just curious, you'll be surprised and delighted by all you experience when you read Psyche Delicacies.
“Chris Kilham offers to jog the mind with good psychoactive plants – a sound prescription. A bit of coffee here, a bit of cannabis there… Agree or disagree with him, Psyche Delicacies will tickle your neurons. A good blend of humor and argonautic escapades.” – Ken Kesey, Author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
“In each case, these plants have been praised and excoriated, promoted and banned, embraced and spurned. Across history and time, pleasure seekers and pleasure haters have fought acrimonious battles over friendly, healthful plants that impart benefits to both body and mind, with little risk to health. These benefits explain why these five plants are among the most widely consumed and traded plants in the world. In every case, the plants featured once existed in relative obscurity. But as quickly as they were discovered, they spread like wildfire, from one nation to another, and leaping across oceans. Each plant has undergone a long and extraordinary journey on the backs of millions of human beings and continues to do so at this time. Each is the object of substantial trade, each is the subject of scientific and medical scrutiny, and each produces its own precious reverie.” – Chris Kilham, on the book, Psyche Delicacies