Everyone knows the cartoon hero Popeye, who always lands in difficulties and just as he threatens to lose from the bearded sea-dog Bluto, eats a tin of spinach.It can be heard, for example, in that sentence in the number “The Spinach Song (I Didn’t Like It The First Time)” by the jazz band Julia Lee and Her Boyfriends, who also had a hit with “Lotus Blossom (Sweet Marijuana)”.They performed in jazz clubs in Kansas City where a cloud of weed smoke hung every evening and used spinach as a metaphor for marihuana.Anti-cannabis lobbyists in the 1930s stated that cannabis made you immune to bullets and gave you other supernatural powers just like Popeye used to sing “I’m strong to the finish ‘cause I eat me spinach”. .
WATCH: That Time Popeye Ate Weed Instead of Spinach
Unseen in the clip, the film goes on to have Bluto get high on his own supply and accidentally rope Olive Oil up with his lasso, prompting Popeye to snap out of his stupor and save the day in his typical violent fashion. .
Ricky Williams Compares Him Smoking Marijuana to Popeye Eating
But now that he's working as an assistant college football coach at the University of Incarnate Word, you would think that he would be a little bit more cautious when it comes to endorsing weed.In an interview with Campus Insiders recently, Williams was asked about whether or not he talks to the players he coaches about his "Achilles heel," which is apparently his love for weed.But rather than offer up a politically correct answer, Williams kept it real when he provided his response. .
Popeye and cannabis
Surely everybody remembers the cartoon hero Popeye; a sailor who always fights against problems and when he is about to lose from his enemy, the bearded sea-dog Bluto, opens a tin of spinach and becomes super strong.Moreover, Popeye owned a dog named Birdseed, and in those days, hemp seeds were used to feed the birds.But when you look at the clip from the cartoon “Rodeo Romeo”, you realize that Popeye cannot handle his pipe.Trying to confuse the senses of Popeye, Bluto replaced the spinach with “locoweed”, the word used for Mexican marijuana at that time.After consuming a can of “locoweed”, he enters a state of faintness and psychedelia in which his brain blows up, and at the end he walks through the air.Believing the bull was a pretty girl, Popeye begins to dance with the animal while whispering sweet things in its ear. .
Consider the Spinach Can
But perhaps Popeye’s greatest contribution to pop culture is his can of spinach, a story trope that would change the shape of cartoons, comics, and video games, in America and across the world.Popping open a can of spinach, and the accompanying fanfare theme, thus become a recognizable rallying moment, the turning point when Popeye starts fighting back—and winning.Popeye’s spinach fueled super strength makes him a precursor to the Golden Age superheroes.And even though it isn’t a literal change, the rallying transformation from ordinary to extraordinary is present when Clark Kent declares “this is a job for Superman” and unbuttons his shirt.The can of spinach is the original Green Lantern’s oath or the Thing’s “It’s Clobberin’ Time!”—a visual and audible statement that shit has indeed gotten real.And you can see the influence of Popeye’s incredible, sometimes surreal reactions to eating spinach in the transformation sequences of anime like Sailor Moon or Beast King GoLion (a.k.a.Sure, lengthy transformation sequences are a way of saving money by reusing footage, but they also serve the same purpose as the spinach can; both signal to the audience that something awesome is about to happen, and that the bad guys are in trouble now.The spinach can, one good idea, launched a character into the minds of the world, and it changed the way we tell other stories, in other genres and media, for almost a hundred years already. .
DIY Recipe: Cannabis-Infused Spinach Artichoke Dip
Let’s face it: A holiday get-together is incomplete without a big bowl of grub-worthy dip surrounded by a platter of bread, vegetables and/or chips.Spinach artichoke dip isn’t only delicious, it’s also packed with lots of healthy nutrients.And if you really want to up your dip game this year (and score extra points with your friends), we suggest infusing it with cannabis.Whenever Popeye saw trouble brewing, he’d eat a can of spinach, and suddenly his biceps would bulge like bowling balls.While the Popeye cartoon may have exaggerated spinach’s effects on the body, there are definitely big health benefits to be had from this leafy green.As you may remember from high school biology, red blood cells transport oxygen through the body, and they increase your energy levels.To start, it’s one of the best sources of antioxidants, which help protect your body against cancer and heart disease.The cynarin in this vegetable promotes improved liver health and helps fight against bad cholesterol.Luckily, spinach artichoke dip tends to have a pretty high fat content anyway, and the following cannabis-infused version is no different.For this rendition, we’ve kept things as simple as possible—all you really need to do is mix the ingredients together and throw them in the oven.10 droppers full cannabis tincture of your choice (As listed, this works out to one dose per person.But the amount of cannabis tincture can be adjusted according to the number of guests, tolerance levels and desired effects.).Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the spinach, artichoke hearts, garlic, sour cream, mayonnaise, half the Parmesan cheese, half the mozzarella, and your desired amount of cannabis tincture.
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Episode 015: The Surprising Story of Spinach • Gardenary
During that time when Middle Eastern or Muslim people were like the primary rulers of the Mediterranean, they say that spinach was super popular there and they were growing it like crazy.Having something to grow in cooler temps during early spring really filled a void for French and English cultures.And if you know much about the Catholic tradition, early spring from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday is a period known as Lent, and it's a time that you give up certain things as a way of sacrifice.Catherine de Medici, the Queen of France, loved spinach so much that she ordered it for every single meal. .
What's In Popeye's Pipe? – The Hempeneer
Since his creation, the pipe-puffing Popeye has become a global phenomenon, with millions of kids heartily munching on spinach in the hopes that it will make them as strong as the legendary sailor-man.The evidence is circumstantial, but it is there, and when added together it presents a compelling picture that, for many readers at least, Popeye’s strength-giving spinach is meant as a clear metaphor for the miraculous powers of marijuana.By the time of the animated cartoons, decades after Segar’s death, the spinach had become an essential part of every plot, with Popeye’s consumption of the magic herb signaling a swift end to his foes.Segar’s storylines were full of adult humor, including Toar having a crush on Popeye, calling him “hot stuff” and kissing him on the head.Popeye’s ongoing adventures included founding his own island nation called Spinachovia, and becoming “dictipator” over a country made up only of men.Performed for years in clubs thick with cannabis smoke, along with other Julia Lee hits like “Sweet Marijuana,” the popular song used spinach as an obvious metaphor for pot.So tying in Popeye’s mighty strength with his sucking back some spinach would have seemed like an obvious cannabis connection at the time.Popeye discovers that the mine manager is feeding his men berries from a bush whose roots are soaked in a nasty drug.Surely the writers who named Popeye’s dog during this “flower power” era were aware that cannabis was in fact America’s number one source of birdseed until it was banned?Another animated film shows Popeye carefully tending a crop of spinach plants reminiscent of a cannabis patch.Many different people and faiths, including Rastafarians and various early Christian sects, have believed that the biblical burning bush is a reference to the cannabis plant.He had previously worked on the short-lived comic book Air Pirates, which showed Mickey and Minnie Mouse having sex, getting high and smuggling drugs.“Popeye characterizes the natural cycle going back through the ages to the ancient mariners … books, [B]ibles, logs, maps, pennants, sails, ropes, paints, varnishes, lamp oil and sealants were all derived from hemp.But in the end Popeye manages to suck the ‘spinach’ through his pipe, grows strong with hemp, breaks free and defeats the evil corporations, saving her from industrial pollution and oppression.While this is likely reading far more into the strip than any of its creators ever intended, it is an excellent example of the iconic status that Popeye has achieved among some quarters of the cannabis community. .
