Published in 1990 by Llewellyn Worldwide
[Disclaimer: This review is solely my opinion. I am open to discussing this book further in this thread. Disagreement is totally welcome!]
About the Book
I'd been looking for a solid book of kitchen witchcraft for a while, and I was pretty pleased to find this one. Although I've had some reservations about Cunningham in the past, I really liked this book! It begins with a discussion of the reason why food can be powerful vehicles for magic (actually, his justification for this was quite lengthy; perhaps kitchen witchcraft was less well-known in the '90s?). He describes some necessary tools in kitchen witchcraft and their mundane and magical uses, how to make eating a ritual, the benefits and drawbacks of vegetarianism, and foods in festivals. The bulk of the book is a discussion of the magical uses and correspondences of various foods, divided broadly into food groups such as herbs, vegetables, grains, etc. Then he has a few chapters about magickal diets (such as foods to eat to attract love, or protection – only one of these diets is related to weight loss), and the book concludes with some magickal recipes (part of a cookbook Cunningham was planning on writing before he died), lists of correspondences, and a glossary.
The Good
Sometimes I get kind of fed up with up with just plain tables of correspondences that don't explain why this food is related to that purpose but you're still supposed to accept on faith. Fortunately, Cunningham does NOT do this – with every food, he does his best to write a brief (but well-researched) explanation of why the food's magical associations, based on folk practices from around the world. So just reading the encyclopedia entries was itself informative and delightful to read.
I was surprised by how much I liked the section on magical diets (I'm pretty wary of any literature relating to weigh loss diets … ) Not only does he have lists of foods and spices that would be great for achieving a specific goal, but he also tempers them with practical advice (for example, he very rightfully points out that if you're in an abusive situation, all the garlic and onion in your diet won't protect you – you have to call for help and get out of there too!)
His recipes also sounded scrumptious, with practical tips like burning blue candles while preparing foods that bring psychic awareness. I unfortunately have not gotten a chance to try any of them yet … but I will definitely post about them when I do! Plus, I was pleased to discover a book on kitchen witchcraft where the recipes were mostly actual food (as opposed to making various body lotions or incense … but that's my personal preference)
The Bad
The major shortcoming in this book is that, while he goes into exhaustive detail about herbs and vegetables and grains, he purposefully omitted a chapter about the magical uses and properties of different types of meat. A shame, since meat is such a common part of our diet, and it would have been really interesting to know more about the folklore, customs, seasonality, etc. about meat. Although I suppose that could have been a whole book in and of itself!
And I have a few other minor quibbles – I wish there were more recipes (although I suppose he was saving up for the cookbook that he never published). Some of the names of the recipes I found kind of hokey (like "Spirit Salad", haha). And he even included a chapter in the appendix on the magical correspondences of certain brands of processed food and fast food (like, Welch's Grape Jelly attracts wealth, and French fries are for protection!). I guess it was a nice thought, but it was mostly just kind of weird, he clearly doesn't recommend it, and you can tell the attempt was half-hearted (after about 2 pages, Cunningham ended the section with, "I have to stop, I can't write another word about fast food…")
To Take With a Grain of Salt
Just a note: his book is written so that people of other religions (not only Wiccans and pagans) can enjoy it too, although it does come from a strongly Wiccan standpoint.
The Verdict
What a fantastic book! I am not Wiccan, and I used to not think very much of Cunningham, but I'm definitely copying a lot of his stuff into my Book of Shadows, and I will be certain to try his recipes soon. I will likely be using this as a reference book in my practice quite frequently!
4.75 out of 5 stars
