Customer Reviews

The Wicca Cookbook: Recipes, Ritual, and Lore

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You don't have to be into Wicca to enjoy this book. I enjoy cookbooks and it is hard to find many that have good recipes that are easy to fix. I don't follow Wicca or practice it, but I loved this cookbook.

The recipes are comfort food style recipes that are generally easy to make. They have covered everything in this book from Bread to Dessert. I love the bread recipes and the basic stuffing recipe is easy and delicious.

Just don't avoid this book because it is Wiccan, if you do you are missing a gem of a cookbook. The history and lore and interesting reading, but it's the recipes that are wonderful and savory.

What I like most is that this book has recipes that are good quality without being pages and pages of ingredients and recipes. Many of them are basics that you can use in a variety of different ways. This is my favorite cookbook. My only complaint is that it isn't longer, but that's not really a complaint at all:)

I'm so glad I was lucky enough to acquire a copy of this book. The recipes are organized around the eight sabbats, with a delicious dish for every season! The historical information and folklore included with each recipe makes it truly unique. Cooking is transformed into a personal, spiritual experience. The ingredients include lots of fresh herbs, fruits, and even edible flowers. I'm delighted with it, and I haven't even cooked anything yet!

I have always been interested in learning about Wicca and I was really excited to find this book! The Wicca Cookbook gave me all kinds of information about Wicca in a really easy, comfortable way. I didn't feel intimidated by it at all. The rituals, herb knowledge, and history all blended together is fascinating. The medieval woodcuts that illustrate the book give it a special, historical feel. The recipes are really wide-ranging and yummy, and the rituals give me something to think about whenever I am cooking.

The Wicca Cookbook is exactly what I have been looking for. I love how it honors the individuality in each person, and leaves the rituals up to interpretation. I have my own herb garden but still learned a few pointers from this book. The format is beautiful and the visualizations, spells and lore very inspiring. What a great find!

When I spotted this book, I had to get it for my growing collection of Wiccan Cookbooks. (The others include Celtic Folklore Cooking, Goddess in the Kitchen, and A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook.) I am not the best of cooks, so I was pleased to discover that the instructions were easy to follow and the ingredients were in most cases attainable. The research appears thorough, and you really get the sense that the authors love to cook. I highly recommend this book!

The Wicca Cookbook / 0-89087-995-8

Unlike other Wiccan cookbooks which often organize recipes around types of cooking (starters, main dish, side dish, dessert, etc.), "The Wicca Cookbook" organizes its recipes around the yearly Sabbats. Each chapter explains the history of the Sabbat, the magical significance of the Sabbat, the associated seasonal produce, and suggested dishes. This organization is perfect for urban-raised wiccans (like me) who haven't memorized the yearly produce growing cycle. Are berries picked in the spring or the summer? Is corn harvested in the summer or the fall? "The Wicca Cookbook" can answer these questions, as well as how to prepare the seasonal bounty both for food and for magical decorations.

This cookbook is perfect for helping to plan Sabbat meals and celebrations, but I'm not sure how useful it would be as an everyday cookbook. The recipes are sometimes very complex (each recipe includes multiple spices to add magical intent to each dish) and picky eaters and shoe-string budget families will have to do a bit of trimming and rewriting to make the recipes more feasible. I also continue to be startled by how many wiccan recipes (both in this book and others) demand to have rose petals included in the meal. I'd estimate that a good dozen or more recipes in this book center around rose petals, and I'm baffled at where I'm supposed to get these petals. Roses do not grow easily in the American southwest where I live, and a commercial bouquet costs a minimum of $40 here, with no way of knowing what pesticides were used in the growing of these flowers. Consequently, a good dozen or more of the recipes in this book I cannot try. I chalk this up to one more difficulty between being an American wiccan in a European wiccan's world - it's up there with being told to harvest your own staves from fallen tree branches. Will dried cactus branches do? No? Oh well.

As an added note, this cookbook is neither vegetarian nor vegan, as several recipes include meat, cream, and dairy products. I know that some people prefer vegan or vegetarian cookbooks for their money, so I thought I'd mention it here. Several of the recipes also call for various kinds of wine and alcohol, but the recipe will sometimes include non-alcoholic substitutions for people with alcohol intolerance. If you eat meat and dairy products regularly and would like a good guide for planning Sabbat meals, this is a very good resource and I definitely recommend it.

Addendum: Someone in the comments asked for the recipe list, so here are the recipes from the table of contents.

CANDLEMAS
Candlemas Pate
Brigid's Seeded Hummus
Basil-Mint Pesto
Walnut-Onion Bread
Brigid's Magical Bread
Puffy Omelet
Frumenty
Crustade of Chicken
Imbolc Moon Cookies
Snowflake Cakes
Valentine's Chocolate
Divinely Spiced Wine

SPRING EQUINOX
Quenelles
Stuffed Nasturtiums
Cucumber Salsa
Gumbo
Violet Salad
Deva Saffron Bread
Elder Flower Sweet Bread
"Be Sweet" Honey Cakes
Hot Cross Buns
Springtime Quiche
Goddess Athena Pitas
Ostara Pineapple Punch
Dandelion Wine

BELTANE
Vanishing Veal Stew
Beltane Oatcake
Zucchini-Chocolate Muffins
Wild Rose Faery Jam
Faeryland French Toast
Angel Noodles in Faery Butter
Divine Chicken Skewers
Ham and Calendula Finger Sandwiches
Griddle Ahi with Herbs
Mead
May Day Wine
Beltane Wine Punch

SUMMER SOLSTICE
Charming Cool Cucumber Soup
Lilith's Lily Fair Soup
Midsummer Ale Bread
Bejeweled Green Beans
Noodles della Italia
Vegetable Frittata
Elder Flower Chicken
Almond Milk
Sun King Pork
Sunshine Jell-0
Midsummer Witches' Rose Dessert
Cherry Pottage
Fruited Iced Tea
Summer Sangria
Rose Hip Wine

LAMMAS
Potato-Corn Chowder
Barley and Mushroom Soup
Corn Bread
Herbed Flatbread
Sun Bread
Raspberry Nutty Muffins
Lugh's Corn Casserole
Sun Rice
Lammas Zucchini Pasta
Grilled Trout
Berry, Honey, and Hazelnut Crumble
Blackberry Pudding
Lammas Cooler
Rose Water
Luscious Lavender Lemonade

AUTUMNAL EQUINOX
Dionysian Stuffed Grape Leaves
Parsley and Potato Soup
Enchanting Grape Salad
Luminous Crescents
Banana Bread
Roasted Carrots
Farls
Yam Enchiladas
Medieval Game Bird
Vegetable Lamb Shanks
Pomegranate Sorbet
Soothing Juniper and Mulled Pears
Sandalwood Soda

SAMHAIN
Yam and Acorn Squash Soup
Chicken-Barley Stew with Herbs
Onion Shortcake
Apple Scones
Baked Butternut Squash
Stuffed Pumpkin
Magickal Mushrooms
Rosemary Salmon
Pumpkin-Praline Pie
Molasses-Ginger Animal Cookies
All Hallows' Eve Cakes
Witch's Brew
Wassail Wiccan Punch
Baked Apples

WINTER SOLSTICE
Bourbon-Rosemary Almonds
Latkes
Tantalizing Tomato and Orange Soup
Caraway Breadsticks
Lambs Wool Apples
Eclectic Eggplant
Yule Turkey
Stuffed Turkey Burgers
Tamales de los Martinez
Yuletide Treats
Hot Ginger Tea
Gluwein

~ Ana Mardoll

A wonderful book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Most of the recipies have been a success (one or two didn't turn out so wonderfully, but that may have been my mistake!), and it has been a huge help in organising our celebrations.

As for the recipe calling for veal, if you object to it's use, boycott the veal industry! Apparently though, some of the other readers do not understand that just because a recipe says "veal" that another meat cannot be used. I live on a cattle station, where we slaughter our own, and I can tell you that a good piece of aged rump usually tastes better in ANY veal recipe!! Obviously your industry standards are lower than ours, because I know that our calves are spoilt rotten (not overfed, just well looked after!) before going off to a (relativly) humaine butcher.

This is my favorite Wiccan cookbook. Some people may complain about the veal, but I don't hear anyone complaining about the Medieval Game Bird. (which, by the way, double the beer, add parsnips, carrots, potatoes and a bunch of herbs...side of soda bread....awesome.! ) In my household, the hunters are the patron god(esses), the recipes in this book are hearty, easy and easily modified to suit game meat. I refer to this book for harvest festival recipes and side dishes to accompany the game we procure.

Yes, there are pagans who hunt.....

This book made me drool from the very first recipe! I have used many of the recipes for our festivals as well as simply enjoying them anytime! It is obvious that Jamie and Tara have researched this extremely well, took their time and added a special love that authors should always have for their work. Well done Jamie and Tara! Bon Apetit!

Purchased this for my daughter in law of sort and she seemed very pleased with it's simplicity.