Faith Food Family: Your Ingredients May Vary…. (Guest Blog from Author and Kitchen Witch Suzanne Hersey)
As I set off on the journey to write my first book, I find myself reflecting on how my magic works and how I can share it with others. I am on the path of the Norse Witch, but if you are looking for a cookbook full of Scandinavian recipes you will find only a few of those, but, oh, so much more here! I was raised Irish, Italian; Catholic. My mom was a meat and potato style provider. She made simple, good food, full of love. I have taken all she taught me and added foods that my friends and new family have shared with me along the way, as well as meals I have eaten in restaurants and come home to duplicate or improve. I love to take something and make it my own by changing measurements and ingredients; playing with spices and sauces. My magical path has been much the same. As I have moved along my journey, I have met so many amazing and gifted witches who have taught me something or shared something that I have picked up and brought along in my Witchy grocery bag.
I like to think about the path of magic as the Marauder’s Map from Harry Potter: you can see others moving, find secret passages no one has yet used, and make your own way. Those others moving around are the community of mystics to which we all belong, sharing and changing as we journey, yet ultimately, each path is a solitary practice. I have a stack of recipe cards already set to go into this book and so many other recipes in my head, measurements uncertain. Asian foods, Italian, Irish, Southern family recipes, cookies and cakes. Every recipe I touch, every dish I create and serve has my own magic in it. My kitchen is my altar: my section of the “Map”.
When we cook we do several things: We use chemistry to make ingredients meld and change; we use magic to put energy and passion into the food; we give love; we heal, and we feed not only the body’s need to eat, but also the soul. The same would likely apply if you are gardening, creating votive art, making candles or incense: Magic is part of every moment of our lives, whether we see it or not. Energy ebbs and flows all around us and through all things we touch. My path is a wonderful, flavorful mix of magic, Gods, spell-work and intentions. My kitchen work is very much the same.
Let’s talk about beef stew. I have blogged about this particular meal in a past post on my own blog space. My mom made beef stew in a big old pot on the stove. That pot was her cauldron, whether she thought of it as that or not. She used water over brown cubes of beef, some salt and pepper, carrots, celery and potatoes: good ole Irish stew, thickened with flour slurry at the end. Maybe she would wow-it-up by putting it in her big, well-used baking bowl and covering it with biscuit mix and baking that golden brown. It was filling and loved, but boy, it needed some salt and flavor! I took what she taught me and made it mine. I do not thicken my beef stew with flour, but with a smoother cornstarch; my cauldron is a crock pot, so the browned angus beef cooks in beef broth, long and slow. I use Yukon gold potatoes because I love their buttery taste; carrots, celery, onions, bay leaves, and when I brown my cubes of beef, I add steak rub to the flour. Near the end of the cooking cycle, I add the corn starch to thicken just a bit, and I toss in brown button mushrooms because I love the earthy feel of them. Honestly, I will eat nearly anything if you tempt me with mushrooms. Seriously: if you could make shiitake mushroom ice cream, I would actually try that! Now, if my mom was here, she would say: “Your Nana is rolling over in her grave!” and then she would patently refuse to eat my beef stew. That’s okay, because Tyr happens to love that stuff and He never tells me I am getting fat, so there you go, Mom! I love you, Mom, but I took that meal that was so a part of my childhood and my kids’ childhood, and I amped that up. I have applied that same method of “amping-it-up” to my entire practice, as a Kitchen Witch, and as a Norse Witch.
This will be my first book. It was supposed to simply be a magical Kitchen Witch Journey, but it is becoming so much more! I want to help others find their cauldron. I want them to take what I have, make it their own, then tell me all about it. I want someone who says they cannot cook to take the first simple step to the magic that I love so very much. When someone enjoys what I cook or bake, it is not simple pride in the food that I feel: it is the magic I have passed on. Magic is not a competition, it is a gift. The path is winding and bumpy at times; maybe we will merry part and merry meet again along the way. I hope that when we do, we can gather at our hearths and in our hearts and share food, laughter, love, and stories of the journey. Come to the magical side, we have cupcakes!
Suzanne’s book, Faith Food Family, will be available from Iaconagraphy Press in October, 2018. Please join us in welcoming her not only to the blog, but also to the Iaconagraphy Press Family!
–Assistant Editor Frances Keys
