A recipe for 'Haschich Fudge' appears in 'The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book' first published in 1954. The recipe was given to

Alice Toklas

by her friend, the British-Canadian artist,

Brion Gysin

.

Made from spices, nuts, fruit, and cannabis, 'Haschich Fudge' quickly became a sensation in its own right.

Toklas described it as 'the food of paradise' and 'easy to whip up on a rainy day'. She advised that it would produce extensions of anyone's personality on 'many simultaneous planes'.

As a result of her cook book's success and this recipe's infamy, Alice. B Toklas' name became synonymous with, and slang for, marijuana. 

The text, 'I Love You, Alice B. Toklas', is taken from the title of a 1968 film starring Peter Sellers. The film's title refers to the Toklas recipe, which plays a pivotal role in the madcap plot:

Take 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, 1 whole nutmeg, 4 average sticks of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon coriander. These should all be pulverised in a mortar. About a handful each of stoned dates, dried figs, shelled almonds and peanuts: chop these and mix them together. A bunch of cannabis sativa can be pulverised. This along with the spices should be dusted over the mixed fruit and nuts, kneaded together. About a cup of sugar dissolved in a big pat of butter. Rolled into a cake and cut into pieces or made into balls about the size of a walnut, it should be eaten with care. Two pieces are quite sufficient.

The text 'I love you Alice B. Toklas' can also be taken as a literal tribute from the artist to Alice B. Toklas and her wife, the great American experimental writer,

Gertrude Stein

.

Firrell has said, 'I was born in Paris all over again when I discovered 27 Rue de Fleurus and the extraordinary lives and work of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas.'

'Alice B. Toklas' is part of socialart.work, a mass public art project by public artist

Martin Firrell

calling for greater social justice.

It aims to create debate about power and gender, women's equality and masculinity, alternative forms of economic and social organisation, black power, and solidarity between people from different backgrounds and ethnicities.

It includes posters, publications and events supported in 2018-19 by the artist's residency with leading Out of Home media company

Clear Channel UK.