Food Associations

[LyricOpal]

I am in the middling stages of working out my kitchen witchery and herbalism and need to find a bunch of magical associations/powers for foods. There are several in Cunningham's encyclopedia, but there are a lot missing since a lot of food wouldn't really be an herb. I'm looking for the vegetables, trees and such that didn't make it into this book.

Does anyone know of other books that have a broader coverage for magical associations or books that have a lot of food in spells so I can extrapolate their uses? Or just how people figure out these associations? Some foods I can figure out what they mean to me, but for things like zucchini I would prefer to work with the energies already associated.

[~Runa~]

"The Real Witches Kitchen" by Kate West
"Cooking by Moonlight" by Karri Ann Allrich
"A Kitchen Witches Cookbook" by Patricia Telesco
"The Food Magicians Spellbook" by Catherine Warrington
"Hot Pot of Passion" by Julie Stebbings

[Figment99]

I found these websites too if you want to give them a look.

http://www.alchemylab.com/guideto.htm

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Magic-in-Food:-LOVE&id=20553

[Daecon]

Any vegetable that is long and thin (zucchini, carrot, leek etc.) can be considered "male" and anything rounded (tomato, eggplant, onion) can be considered "female" for magical purposes. For Elemental associations, root vegetables (potato, beet, carrot...) are of the element Earth. "Hot" foods are of course, Fire. This element is mainly peppers, but also horseradish, radishes and the edible nasturtium flower. Water is foods that are noticeably juicy, like watermelons or tomatoes. Most recipes call for water, milk or oil, all of which can be considered this element. We don't generally eat the "air growing" plants like spanish moss and mistletoe, but we can populate the Air element with grains, since most of them pollinate by wind instead of insects like the fruits. We can make an exception for rice, since its cultivation method suggests the element of Water instead.

Zucchini has a reputation for being unusually prolific, as in the joke about how we only lock our car doors during August for fear that people will fill the car with excess vegetables. This quality lends itself well to spells of fertility, prosperity and abundance.

The tomato is sometimes called a "love apple" and was credited as an aphrodisiac. Before it was widely cultivated in Europe, many believed it to be poisonous. In fact, the tomato is related to the deadly nightshade, and its vines contain small amounts of toxic atropine, as does the unripe fruit. Organic farmers will sometimes use the crushed leaves and vines as an insect repellent. This irony can be exploited by a clever magician in much the same way as a rose with its thorns. Other members of the nightshade family include mandrake, jimson weed, eggplant, tobacco and potatoes. All of these contain toxic compounds in some part of the plant.

According to the Aztecs who first cultivated the plant, eating tomato seeds aids in divination. The juice can be used as a symbolic "blood."

Garlic, of course, is best known for repelling vampires, so protection spells in general can be built around this property. It's also well known as a medicinal herb, and like the tomato, enjoys a reputation as an aphrodisiac despite its odor.