The Witch’s Feast: A Kitchen Grimoire (Sampler)
This is a review for the sampler. The book is divided into the following sections with beautiful photography.
Feast of the Ancestors: Traditional feasts, recipes and rituals of witches past
Feast of the Stars: Cooking through the zodiac
Feast of the Heavens: Planetary magic in the kitchen
Feast of the Earth: Seasonal meals for the solstices and equinoxes
Feast of Spells: Potions, rites and dinner spells
In the first section, the author provides a very thorough description of the traditions by various cultures. She also discusses how the changes from hunter/gatherer societies has led us to today’s feasting and celebrating tables. I love how the author includes a small rite at the end of some recipes.
The Roast Chicken with Babylonian Spices uses readily available ingredients and sounds amazing. I appreciate the author’s tip on carefully reading the instructions as you prepare the meal.
The Pharmakos Cakes are made with dried figs, wine, flour, and goat cheese. She gives a list of festivals when it would be appropriate to serve these cakes. She also gives an example of an ancient ritual a town may have performed to get rid of ills in the community that sounds horrible. I am glad that sacrifices now are bloodless.
To recreate a Pagan Feast, the recipe includes moretum, an herbed cheese, herb salad, pita breads, lamb roast, and cheesecake for dessert. The ingredients consist of several fresh herbs that could be tricky to find in a grocery store (for example savory and rue) but the instructions are easy to follow.
The Fornacalia Focaccia has easy to follow directions and the ingredients are readily available. I love bread baked with rosemary and put it on my to-be-baked list. I especially love the invocation for Hecate at the end of the recipe.
Celtic Struan for Michaelmas is mentioned in the Carmina Gadelica and sounds like a heavy loaf of bread. The author gives advice to watch it while baking because this loaf tends to crack on the top.
If you like ancient traditions or are looking for other ways to honor your deity, I recommend this book. It is obvious the author has done her research on the topic. I look forward to the book being published so I can get the full book.
