This IG Chef Blends Food, Music, And Cannabis To Create The Perfect Vibe

One thing food, music, and cannabis have in common is that they all intersect around community. From spring soirées to summer barbecues, it’s a classic combo that awakens the soul and brings people together. Like music, food is a composition, and each ingredient contributes to the overall arrangement. The savory notes add roundness like an upright bass, while spice gets the blood moving like drums, and sweetness strums away like an acoustic guitar. When you add cannabis to the mix, the trio comes together in tasty harmony, making each bite more flavorful and frequencies more intense.

Daniel Williams, the creator behind the popular First, We Vibe, is one person that’s figured out how to seamlessly blend this therapeutic trifecta. Launched in the summer of 2021, First, We Vibe is a carefully curated culinary playlist where Williams pairs delicious recipes with classic tunes while enjoying an impressively rolled joint.

At over 2 million followers on Instagram, you’d be surprised to hear that Williams’ love for cooking didn’t develop until later in life. “There’s some cooking genes in the family, my grandpa was a chef in the military. My mom can throw down in the kitchen, but as a kid, I wasn’t interested at all and I was a really picky eater,” Williams says. His first love was actually baseball. It wasn’t until later in life, following a career-ending shoulder injury, that he would discover his latent desire for the culinary arts.

During recovery, Williams passed the time by binging Hulu. Whether a sign from above or merely coincidence, he was drawn to Hulu’s wide selection of food content shows like F*ck That’s Delicious, Anthony Bourdain, and of course, anything Gordon Ramsey-related. Such bedridden days planted the seeds for a bountiful future.

First, We Vibe evolved later as Williams dove deeper into his growing obsession with cooking-related movies and shows. He recalls one particularly inspiring scene, “In ‘V for Vendetta’ the where he’s playing ‘Cry Me A River’ while cooking Natalie Portman breakfast. That scene itself inspired a vintage vibrations playlist.” From consuming classic movies like Chef to the Japanese TV series Midnight Diner, Williams was eventually filled with the confidence to cook up his own content.

For Williams, food, music, and cannabis are a meditation ritual, a way to alleviate the grind of everyday life, and making recipes offers momentary respite. “I get a break of my everyday stresses or worries for however long the dish takes. The three, for me, combined together creates a great synergy to either get out of my head or at least quiet it,” Williams shares.

When it comes to pairing songs with recipes, he says, “Sometimes I hear a song or have a song in mind where I go ‘definitely need to find a recipe for this song.” Other times the inspiration comes after a recipe is already recorded and edited. “The recipes are my way of sharing music,” he adds.

Despite the massive success First, We Vibe has achieved, he still recalls two defining moments that let him know he was on the right path. One, is the first video he began the series with, which received 10k likes despite having only around 1,200 followers at the time. The second is when Roy Choi reposted a video he did dedicated to the grilled cheese scene from ‘Chef’. “That was crazy to me,” he reminisced excitedly.

In the future, Williams hopes to expand First, We Vibe beyond Instagram. His larger goal is to “one day be able to have food and musical festivals, a cooking show on Spotify, hopefully be able to collaborate or meet some of the people that inspired me, and open up a cannabis-friendly diner.”

Until then, he wants it to be a break from the chaos of the world. He believes we live in an era of information overload, and much of the info we receive is centered around aggression and fear-mongering. “I just want the person scrolling to see one video of mine and go ‘that was relaxing’ or ‘vibes’. If they then click to my profile and just scroll, they’ll get lost in the playlist.”

If you need a culinary vibe check, make sure to follow First, We Vibe on Instagram where Williams adds new recipes to his playlist weekly. You can also sign up for updates on his website.