WICCA COOKBOOK OFFERS THE BASICS, WITH A TWIST

By NANCY REDWINE

Santa Cruz Sentinel

The Middle Ages are not exactly considered a time of high culinary achievement. The Medieval kitchen was blurred with smoke, hung with smelly carcasses and populated with goats and chickens.

So why would anyone want to read a cookbook that bases itself in a period of time most people are glad to not have been born into?

Combining a gentle introduction to Wicca, the history of Medieval cooking and eating, with a solar-calendar-based collection of recipes — ancient and modern — "The Wicca Cookbook: Recipes, Ritual and Lore" weaves a convincing case for looking at the wisdom — culinary and spiritual — of that formative period of human history.

Wicca is an eclectic spiritual philosophy that its practitioners claim has its historical roots in the indigenous, fertility-based, polytheistic and communal spirituality that pre-dated (and perplexed) Christianity. Jamie Wood and Tara Seefeldt, authors of "The Wicca Cookbook" assure readers that Wicca is not based in dogma (nor Satan worship), but in aligning oneself with the natural forces in order to create good. In this case, good food.

Following the wheel of the year from Candlemas (now called Groundhog Day) to Yule (Christmas), "The Wicca Cookbook" is organized by the belief that foods are at their peak nutritionally, medicinally and magically when in season. While the recipes — gleaned also from the authors’ friends, families and their own files — the focus of the book is on an approach to cooking — and life — rather than a style of cooking — or religion.

Attending Wiccan ritual in Southern California, Wood noticed that none of the foods that participants brought for after-ritual feasting coincided with the season they were honoring.

"Right now we have pomegranates," Wood said. "Of course you can still have strawberries this time of year, but when a food is prime, everything about it is prime. Of course we can say, ‘I want what I want right now,’ but I think it’s good to honor the gift when it’s been given."

After a full moon ritual to bring her writing work, author Wood received a phone call from her former boss, a literary agent who knew of an editor looking for an author for a Wiccan cookbook.

Seefeldt, Wood’s sister-in-law, originally introduced Wood to the ideas of Wicca. The researcher of the Medieval lore and recipes for the book, Seefeldt came highly qualified as a Ph.D candidate in early modern European history with a minor in Medieval history at Arizona State University.

According to Seefeldt, the Middle Ages were one of the last times in human history when Northern European people lived within seasons, watching the sun and moon to determine what they did. They ate according to what was available, and lore and ritual grew up around those foods.

Despite some serious hygiene and food preservation problems in the Middle Ages, Wood and Seefeldt highlight its positive contributions to modern cooking, such as the intricacies of spices and herbs (often used to hide the taste of bad meat).

Surviving the Middle Ages are dishes such as Frumenty, a bulgur dish favored by lords and clerics and Mead, which is credited with bringing oblivion to many a pagan. Tamales de Martinez (from Wood’s great-grandmother) comes from a tradition that predates the Middle Ages, but belongs right in the middle of this celebration of indigenous roots.

"The only information we have available about cooking habits in Middle Ages is what got written down and it’s all a reflection of the upper classes, who were sitting down to meals with 10 courses of meat," Seefeldt said.

"We know sketchily what peasants ate and cooked and it was a much simpler diet. There were fewer, if any, spices, little meat except just after harvest and usually chicken or pork. Porridge was most common.

What is timeless in Wood and Seefeldt’s book is the invitation to immerse oneself in the kitchen, not just to satisfy physical hunger, but spiritual thirst as well.

"Wicca stresses the importance of thinking about what you’re trying to accomplish," Wood said. "What I find remarkable about its application to cooking is that it makes it OK to be completely immersed in what you’re doing. It’s not really about doing something you wouldn’t already be doing, but about being absolutely aware of what you are doing."

All stages of the creation of The Wicca Cookbook were forged in ritual. Matching foods in seasons with the recipes she and Seefeldt collected, Wood lit a red candle and placed an ocean-bathed crystal on her desk. "I’d get out of the way so the divine source could come through me. Then I’d write."

With each chapter and each recipe, the authors offer a small ritual suggestion. For Samhain, also known as Halloween, Hallowmas, and All Saints’ Eve, the ritual is for banishing negativity. They suggest writing down on a piece of paper the aspect of life from which the wisher would like to be freed. Then place the paper in a bowl and burn it, asking the universe to transform the energy from negative to positive.

"With this book we want to educate people and make Wicca less mysterious," Seefeldt said. "It’s really about the power of positive thinking and of putting your mind into position so that you can make good things happen."

All of the following recipes are from the Samhain section of the cookbook. In Wiccan tradition, it is the Witches’ New Year, the time when the veils between worlds are thin, and the time of the final harvest. Traditional foods eaten this time of year are pumpkins, pomegranates, apples, squash, beets, and hazelnuts.

APPLE SCONES

1 med.-sized apple
2 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. vegetable shortening
½ cup raisins
¼ cup apple juice

Peel, core and mince the apple. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. With a pastry blender, cut in the shortening. Stir in the apples and raisins. Add the apple juice to stiffen the dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Roll the dough to about ½ inch thick. Cut into triangles. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 10 minutes, until light brown.

Barley was a common remedy in Medieval times for acute ailments. It is known for it’s ability to give warmth.

CHICKEN-BARLEY STEW WITH HERBS

2 Tbsp. butter
2 cups thickly cut green onions, white and green parts
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 to 3 lbs. chicken breast, on the bone
¾ cup barley
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
3¾ cups water
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp. minced fresh sage

Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven or a heavy pot with a lid. Add the green onions and garlic; sauté. Add the chicken and cook until browned on all sides. Stir in the barley, vinegar, water, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then decrease heat and simmer for 1 to 1½ hours.

Remove the chicken and let cool. Remove the meat from the bones and add it to the soup. Mix in the sage, stirring well.

To keep the dead from making mischief, offer them these cakes.

ALL HALLOWS’ EVE CAKES

½ cup vegetable oil
4 ozs. unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
2 cups granulated sugar
4 lg. eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups sifted cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup confectioners’ sugar

In a large bowl, mix the vegetable oil, chocolate, and granulated sugar. Blend in the eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the oil mixture. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of dough into a ball. Coat each ball in confectioners’ sugar, rolling until covered. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. The cakes should be soft and the edges should be firm. Do not overbake; they burn easily.

"The Wicca Cookbook: Recipes, Ritual and Lore" by Jamie Wood and Tara Seefeldt is published by Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press in Berkeley.

It is available at Gateway Books and Gifts and Capitola Book Café, and will soon be available at Bookshop Santa Cruz and Bookworks in Aptos. It can also be ordered at www.tenspeed.com

If you would like a press kit, please send request to maito:Jamie@jamiewood.com