Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen (16 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Salt, Vinegar,
Soup, & Noodles

O
kay, okay. So maybe these subjects don't have much in common. I just couldn't find any other place for them.

Salt

(a mineral, sodium chloride)

Planet:
Earth

Element:
Earth

Energies:
Grounding, stopping psychic awareness, protection

Lore:
In the ancient world, salt was created by three processes: mining in the earth from long-dry ocean beds; boiling the water collected from salty springs until only the mineral was left; and evaporating sea water in flat lakes or salt pans.
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This last method is still in use throughout the world and, indeed, the Morton Salt company has just such an operation less than twenty miles from where I sit writing this. Salt pans, carved from volcanic rock at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, can still be seen in many coastal areas of the world.

In the past, salt was one of the most sought-after substances. Human life is not possible without some salt in the diet, for the body cannot produce salt on its own. One theory suggests that our dependence upon salt is a vestige of the past. A popular theory (now somewhat disputed) states that all life emerged from the salty, briny sea.
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Those peoples far from the sea or from salt deposits had to be content with eating naturally salty foods and meat.
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The salt trader's cargo was more precious than gold, and they were constantly subject to attack.

Salt played important roles in early religions. Some priests and priestesses of ancient Egypt were forbidden to eat salt due to its connection with the god Set
.
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Other sects, however, did use salt. The Greek historian Herodotus records that during one Isian festival, which included lamentations at the death of Osiris, lamps were lit after being filled with a mixture of oil and salt.
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Though the Greeks didn't add salt to their sacrifices until a rather late date,
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they and the Romans dedicated salt to Poseidon and Neptune. Tiamat, the ancient Sumerian goddess of the sea, was also offered salt in ritual.
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These uses are obvious acknowledgements of the link between salt and the ocean.

Roman soldiers were paid “salaries” with salt, and the substance was so precious that anyone caught selling it to the enemy was put to death.
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The Finnish sky god, Ukko, was credited with creating salt. He threw a spark of heavenly fire into the sea, thereby making the once-sweet water salty.

There are few records of salt use in the New World, but we do know that the Aztecs worshipped Huixtocihuatl, the salt goddess.
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The sacralness of salt lives on. While cooking, some Arab women throw pinches of salt across soups and stews with the belief that it will blind and drive away any demons that may be hovering over the food.
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In contemporary Iran, a frightened person pushes a finger into salt and then puts it on to the tongue to remove fear.

The Japanese dispel unwelcome guests by sprinkling salt over the house entrance. Every morning, some restaurant-owners place small piles of salt at the entrance to their businesses, one on either side of the door. This attracts prosperity and customers to the business.
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Spilling salt is a negative omen throughout the English-speaking world, though this superstition is slowly disappearing.

One of the greatest teachers of our era, Mahatma Gandhi, began India's peaceful independence movement by publicly marching with many of his followers to Dandi. There he made salt—an illegal activity for private citizens.
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04

Magical uses:
In magic, add salt to grounding diets if you've kept your head in the clouds for too long. Small amounts are sufficient to effect a refocus from the spiritual to the physical world.

Salt is useful in shutting down psychic awareness, so avoid eating salted foods if you're trying to accomplish just the opposite.

Small amounts of salt are added, with visualization, to protective and money-attracting foods. An overabundance of salt in the diet, however, will cause serious physical problems. The disease or ill health that will result greatly diminishes psychic protection. Eat salt moderately!

Vinegar

Planet:
Saturn

Element:
Fire

Energies:
Purification, Protection

Lore:
The first vinegar consisted of wine that had “turned.” According to contemporary American folklore, giving away vinegar is tantamount to giving away “luck.”
46

Magical uses:
We know this tangy, acidic liquid from its use in pickling and salad dressings. But vinegar is quite useful in magical diets. (Use only apple-cider vinegar. White vinegar shouldn't be used internally.)

Folk magicians wash quartz crystals in a mixture of water and vinegar to purify them. Similarly, a few drops of vinegar placed in a glass of water (or added to such foods as salad dressings) are used to purify our bodies, minds, and emotions.

Fill three small, shallow vessels with vinegar. Place these around the house to remove negativity. Drain the bowls and refill as necessary.

Vinegar is also protective. For a potent protective food, slice one raw onion. Place into a bowl and add equal amounts of vinegar and water to cover. Let sit, covered, in a cool place for twenty-four hours. Eat the onions as a zesty, protective relish during meals.

Soups

Generally speaking, soups are ruled by the moon and by the element of water. Here are two famous soups and some of their magical lore.

Bird's-Nest Soup
. Many Westerners have heard of this Chinese delicacy. The price for the raw nests is currently around one thousand dollars a pound, due to the increasing difficulty in collecting them. The birds (a certain kind of swallow) build their nests in virtually inaccessible cliffs in China, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Demand always outstrips supply, for there are many throughout Asia who love a good bowl of bird's- nest soup.

This tempting delicacy isn't made from sticks and twigs, as I once thought, but from the hardened strips of the birds' saliva, which they use to build their nests. The substance is washed and cleaned of extraneous matter until it is a mass of white, sponge-like material.

Bird's-nest soup can be eaten for pure enjoyment (though crab, shrimp, and ham are often added to the thirty-five-dollar bowl of soup to enhance its taste). Usually, however, it's consumed for magical purposes.

The soup is believed to provide youth and health to its diners, to clear women's skin, and to remove all forms of blemishes. Bird's-nest soup is eaten before important examinations in order to ensure success. Regularly eating bird's-nest soup is thought to maintain health, and it is also considered to be a potent sex arouser.
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Few of us will ever eat it, but it's an intriguing food that had to be included here.

Chicken Soup.
The ancient peoples of Harappa, in the Indus Valley, were probably the first to domesticate the jungle fowl. This once-wild bird eventually became the chicken, and spread throughout the world.
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One of our favorite cures for the common cold, chicken soup has been proven in scientific tests to have some benefits. Drinking hot chicken soup clears the sinuses and relieves stuffiness.
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This is thought to eventually kill the viruses that cause colds.

A pregnant woman in Chad (an equatorial African country) is warned not to eat chicken. If she does, she'll suffer a painful childbirth, and the child itself may even be deformed.
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In contemporary Egypt, the exact reverse is believed. Pregnant women eat chicken to supply the extra strength needed during the birthing process. Egyptian men eat chicken soup to promote virility. A man about to be married will down gallons of the stuff for several days before his marriage, so as not to have a disappointing wedding night.
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Noodles

I've already mentioned soba, the buckwheat noodles that the Japanese eat for money (see
chapter 8
). Noodles almost certainly originated in ancient China and spread from there to India, the Middle East, and finally to Europe.
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Some claim that Italy created them, but this is doubtful. It is curious that many Italian and Chinese dishes that utilize noodles are somewhat similar. Spaghetti is popularly believed to have been introduced into Italy by Marco Polo upon his triumphant return from the Far East (but I'm
not
getting into this argument).
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Noodles are a staple food throughout China and Japan. In rural Japan, every town has a noodle shop. Running water may be provided by pierced bamboo poles that divert a stream right through the store. Farmers flock to these shops to eat the hot, nourishing noodles.

In China, noodles are symbols of long life. They are eaten on special occasions, such as anniversaries and birthdays, to bring success and good fortune. deTraci Regula, a friend of mine, says that to eat a long noodle on the Chinese New Year's Day brings only the best of “luck” during the coming year.

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Chapter Sixteen

Food from Sea & River

T
he ocean has always been worshipped by peoples living near its great expanses. Deities rode the waves or lay submerged, far beyond where human eyes could see them. As late as the 1600s, unearthly monsters were believed to live in the sea's briny depths, and early maps were marked “Here Bee Monsters” across lonely expanses of the ocean.

The foods of the sea continue to feed millions of people today, as they have in the past. Though we would probably find many of these species repulsive (such as the sea worms that are considered delicacies throughout the South Pacific), many kinds of fish have been eaten for thousands of years.

Fish

Lore:
The Egyptian god Ra was reputedly guided on his journey into the underworld by a fish. Naturally, this specific type of fish was eaten to relieve blindness in ancient Egypt.
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The Egyptians offered fish to Isis, Amon, Aten, Ra, Amon-Ra, Khnum, Hapy, and many other deities. Priests dedicated to Osiris didn't eat certain kinds of fish due to their mythological entanglements.
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Thousands of mummified fish have been found in Egyptian tombs and temples.

Fish were sacred to Ishtar in ancient Babylon and probably also to her predecessor, Inanna, in Sumer.
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In Assyrian myth, one of the finned creatures pushed an egg from the Euphrates River onto the shore. The goddess Atargatis hatched from it. This divine act caused all fish to be worshipped and spared from the cook's art.
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In Greece and Rome, fish were sacred to oceanic deities such as Poseidon and Neptune, to Venus, and to other goddesses and gods—but they were eaten by all.

The old Hawaiians saw similarities between some of their deities and the astonishing fish that swim and flip around their islands. Kane and Pele were both linked with the
oopu
(a freshwater fish). It was hazardous to eat fish that were sacred to the family's particular deity.
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There are many “fish stories” in Hawaiian mythology, such as the following.

A man from the island of Molokai caught some oopu fish, tied them up in the leaves, and set them on to a fire to cook. The fish suddenly spoke to him (because he wasn't supposed to eat it), and the poor man ran away in terror.
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Fish hooks, once the most important food-gathering device, are symbols of good fortune in Hawaii, where they are still worn. An Omnimax/Imax film,
Beyond Hawaii,
is centered around a fish hook that takes a Hawaiian youth on a trip into his people's past. In the night skies over Hawaii, the constellation Scorpio is thought to be Maui's fish hook.

In China, fish are thought to be transformed birds, while birds are fish that have gone through a transmutation. The fish is a symbol of freedom, harmony, and emancipation. Two fish are given to a newly wedded couple in the belief that the finny creatures will bring them joyous sexual union.
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The sacralness of the fish seems due to its ability to live in complete harmony with its environment, to its prolific egg-laying capability, and to our early dependence on it for food. The Mediterranean goddesses connected with love were usually also associated with water and the ocean, which explains why fish were also used for courtship and marriage rituals in Europe.

Magical uses:
Fish swim in the sea, in rivers, and in lakes. Water magically strengthens psychic awareness. Fish are also easier to digest than meat. These factors indicate that fish are fine for those wishing to increase psychic awareness. Poached fish, fish stews, and soups are particularly potent for this purpose.

Due to their long association with love, fish are also excellent foods to consume in order to expand your ability to give and to receive love.

Caviar and fish have also been thought to be aphrodisiacs. If interest in sexual activity is a problem, eat fish and visualize.

To close this section, here's a Victorian folk ritual that seems to have been popular in England a hundred years ago: on Halloween night, just before going to sleep, eat a raw or roasted salt herring. Don't drink any liquid with it. Don't even brush your teeth. Go to bed. As you sleep, you'll have a dream. In that dream, the man or woman who is to become your husband or wife will come to you with a glass of water to quench your thirst. To many young Victorians, such a ritual must have offered a tantalizing glimpse of the future.

Crab

Lore:
These bizarre creatures have always been viewed with suspicion and a bit of awe. Their shells and unusual manner of walking are striking. I once read with shivers about some coral atolls in the South Pacific that are periodically covered with crabs. The strange creatures walk across the islands from one side to the other, scrambling over everything in their path.

To the Japanese, crabs were magical. Dried crab shells were often nailed over doorways of Japanese homes. This wasn't for decoration, but was meant to drive away evil and to keep those who lived within the house healthy and free of disease.
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One type of crab, known as
heike-gani,
is especially revered. The unusual markings on the crab's shell roughly resemble the outlines of a human face. The Japanese believed that these crabs were the incarnations of warriors who were defeated and drowned at Dannoura in the Inland Sea.
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Magical uses:
Crab is another food said to have aphrodisiac properties.

Shellfish

Lore:
We've all heard the stories of the gigantic clams
(Tridacna noa)
of the South Pacific. A diver accidentally pushes a leg between the calm's massive shells. They close around the leg, and the diver is subsequently drowned by the fierce, treacherous clam.

These are myths, of course. The clams aren't dangerous. It's impossible to trap a leg or arm between their “jaws.” It'd be dangerous to have one of the shells thrown at you, but that's the extent of the clam's possible hazards.

Throughout the world (in the South Pacific, the Americas, in the Middle East, Asia, and elsewhere), clam shells have been used as money, for decoration, and as ritual implements.
††††

Disc-shaped beads of hardshelled clams, known as
wampum,
were used as money, as a tool of ceremonial exchange, and to send messages by Indians of the eastern coast of the United States. Wampum grew in favor until, in the 1600s, it became a legal form of currency in both English and Dutch colonies in America.

Magical uses:
Like all seafoods, shellfish have long been eaten to induce the desire for sexual activity. Clam chowder is perhaps a bit heavy for this purpose, but any other form is fine. Shellfish can also be eaten as a part of psychic-awareness diets.

Sushi

I'll admit that I've never been to a sushi bar; never eaten sea urchin (
uni
); never spent fifty to a hundred bucks to stuff my face with small, exquisitely prepared foods. But I've read up on the subject, and many of my friends have been initiated into the wonders of this particularly Japanese form of food preparation.

Though sushi preparation is quite complex, it generally consists of seafood, seaweed, rice, and some fresh vegetables. These ingredients make sushi an excellent addition to psychic-awareness diets. (Tragically, I've heard that some of the newest foods being used in sushi preparation in Japan are the avocado . . . and Spam.)

One favored food often found in Japanese sushi bars has long been banned from being served in the United States. Recently, permission was granted for a team of Japanese chefs to fly from their island nation to the U.S., bringing with them a treasured cargo:
fugu.
Fugu is responsible for many deaths each year in Japan. This dish looks innocuous enough—thin, almost transparent slices of fish.

The blowfish, however, from which it is prepared, is poisonous. Only the most experienced sushi chefs are allowed to prepare fugu. They remove the most poisonous parts. Even so, the fish is said to produce a slight numbness in the diner. If incorrectly prepared, the fish causes death.
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In Japan, fugu is one of the most expensive dishes on the sushi bar. It is also the most hazardous. Even if I do go to a sushi bar, I doubt that I'll ask the chef for fugu.

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