ALICE'S BROWNIES

Editor -- In Wednesday's Chronicle staff writer Elaine Herscher wrote that
Alice B. Toklas's ``cannabis-spiked brownies'' made her famous. Not true.
Ms. Toklas's recipe was for haschich (sic) fudge, ``which anyone could whip
upon a rainy day.'' She cautioned, however, that ``it should be eaten with
care.''

Herb Caen made the same error in his column many years ago, and after I
pointed this out to him he wrote that he ``would question whether it's
fudge at all, the ingredients being peppercorns, nutmeg, cinnamon,
coriander, stoned dates (``was Miss Toklas making a joke here?'' Herb
asked), etc.'' Ms. Toklas is equally well-known for not being the author of
her own autobiography.

ROBERT ORNDUFF, Berkeley