Cooking, Magic and Resistance
Where I live in the middle of England, and like many other places around the world, the autumn and winter months often means wetter, colder weather and with it, the return of coughs and colds and other minor ailments. Whilst these illnesses are not serious or life threatening, they are extremely annoying and make doing the everyday things such as chores and work and even just sleeping uncomfortable.
For me, the magic of cooking and food is more than ‘kitchen witchery’ (a term I use begrudgingly for ease of understanding - I hate seeing such complex things broken down into labels that do little justice to the processes involved) though there is no doubt that cooking itself is a magical thing, an alchemy of sorts. Kitchen magic is about knowledge, as so much within witchcraft is, and it’s about utilising that knowledge, about putting it into practise to achieve the desired effect. So here, my fellow witches, let us discuss medicinal cookery as an aspect of witchcraft.
For me, healing (as well as more baneful arts) has always been the art of the witch, the knowledge of local plants to help those who might need it. For me, medicinal cookery is an extension of that and more.
Ingredients
Health and well-being begin with what we put inside of our bodies. Food is fuel, and it is also the first defence against illness. By eating well, we give our bodies the best chance of fighting off any infections. Now, I’m not advocating we all become raw food advocates or take on any other ‘out there’ diets - I love junk as much as the next person. But we can use good ingredients to create nourishing dishes that are delicious as well as being full of good stuff! Here are just a few ingredients and the benefits they offer.
Garlic - these little cloves are mighty in terms of health promotion. Garlic contains over 160 bioactive constituents (the compounds that have an effect upon the body), including sulfur and amino acids including taurine. Garlic is well known for its healing properties and is a protective herb.
Potatoes - I know, right? For so long the humble potato has had something of a bad rep, especially amongst those concerned with consuming too many carbs. However the potato contains a compound called kukoamine, known to lower blood pressure, and eaten in healthy portion sizes shouldn’t be a concern for anyone.
Sweet potatoes - this spud is quite popular at the moment, well known for being healthy. It contains the antioxidant beta carotene - vitamin A - and is a powerful anti inflammatory.
Onions - Used in almost every savoury dish I cook, they are so versatile! They are also full to the brim with good stuff, including quercetin which is a natural antihistamine. Onions are also anti inflammatory and excellent for the digestive system.
Celery - This often ignored and overlooked vegetable actually contains compounds that act as pain killers, though the affect is short lived. More than that though, it also contains chemicals called coumarins, and these help the lymphatic system (the system that rids the body of waste).
Carrots - Help you see in the dark! Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one! But all joking aside, carrots are good for eye health, hence the old wives tale. They protect the part of the eye that is susceptible to age related damage. As well as being full of vitamin A, beta carotene is good for the cardiovascular system as well as the heart.
I could go on and on. The truth is that nature really does provide and everything that grows, whether that be fruit, vegetable, grain or pulse will have some health benefit for us. So why do these ingredients have such a bad rep? Why is it so easy to overlook them for something we think is better? Soggy veg that’s been boiled half to death has a lot to answer for! I also think that fad diets are to blame as well. Every week there seems to be a different food item that we are told is the be all and end all of healthy living, and so other, more everyday ingredients are often overlooked. Getting more adventurous in the kitchen is a fantastic way to add a touch of glamour to those everyday food items we may overlook. Here are just a few tips to try.
Find new ways to cook veg. I love broccoli that’s been sauteed for a couple of minutes with onion, garlic and a shake of salt and pepper. Absolutely divine. In fact, I cook a lot of my veg this way. Cabbage, peas, kale cauliflower, it’s all good.
Use raw veg in smoothies and juices. Not only is it a great way to disguise those greens for fussy eaters, but raw veg is fantastically healthy. You can use pure orange juice as a base, and you can add anything you like. Have fun with it and explore what kind of tastes and textures you like.
Experiment with salads, there’s no need to have limp lettuce anymore. Try a salad with avocado, basil, chopped strawberries and rocket. Pomegranate seeds are divine in a salad too! Again, experiment with different flavours and those ingredients you perhaps never considered adding to a salad before.
A foraged salad is just as tasty as anything store bought, though this is more suited for the spring and summer months when there is an abundance of dandelions (stalks, leaves and flowers), wild rocket, chick weed, hawthorn leaves and wild garlic.
Recipe
This soup recipe is one I enjoy regularly. It’s perfect for these autumnal and wintry days and is also full of good ingredients that helps the body to fight off cold and other complaints. It’s also super easy to make, in fact I make it in the morning for lunchtime at work - it really is super fast and easy and doesn’t make a sinkful of dishes for you to wash either. It’s also great because you don’t have to be too fussy about ingredients, so if you don’t like something, you can easily change it for something else. I make the majority of my soups this way and you can add whatever you have available to you.
Ingredients:
Two onions, peeled and halved
Two or three cloves of garlic
1 chilli pepper (or two if you like things hot)
1 bell pepper (you can substitute for sweet pepper if you prefer)
Tomatoes (add as many as you like. I usually use between 5 and 10 cherry tomatoes)
Two or three carrots, chopped into large pieces
1 sweet potato or regular potato, peeled and cut into smaller chunks
Half a butternut squash (or any other squash is fine. If your not a fan, then you can leave out all together and just add more of the other ingredients.
500ml of vegetable stock
Method
Pop all of the vegetables on a baking tray, drizzle with oil and roast until softened (around twenty minutes, half an hour). When they’re done, take them from the oven and let cool until they are easier to handle. If you used squash, scrape the flesh from the skin and along with the rest of the veg, pop into a large saucepan. Add the stock and then blend together until you have a nice thick but smooth texture. If you need to add more stock then do so. Season with herbs and then serve!
I make my own stocks, in this instance vegetable stocks can be made using scraps. I will save the carrot odds and celery odds and ends and boil them up with a couple of roughly chopped onions and garlic, along with any other veg oddments I have left. A twist of salt and pepper is added and enough water to cover and then it is boiled down and drained.
Learning to cook from scratch and even trying to grow your own food is an act of rebellion and resistance. These skills and knowledge are quickly being displaced by convenience foods that are not good for us and so in this way then, magic in the kitchen becomes another tool in our arsenal we can use to reclaim ourselves from the clutches of Capitalism. And it’s easier than you might think as well, the trick is to start small. There is no other way, all rebellions and resistance start as a trickle. Resist beautifully folks!
EMMA KATHRYN
My name is Emma Kathryn, my path is a mixture of traditional European witchcraft, vodou and obeah, a mixture representing my heritage. I live in the sticks with my family where I read tarot, practice witchcraft and drink copious amounts of coffee.
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