The Kitchen Witch Companion
by Patricia Telesco
(Citadel Press; 2005) 296 pages

Just what the neo-Pagan community needs, another culinary cookbook. While Trish does an excellent job with her writing talents, surely the subject matter couldn’t be more benign? Is this yet another new age fare brought out to merely take up space on B&N bookshelves? You know with all the Pagan food recipes in the various occult books, you’d presume that when Joe and Mary Sixpack thumb thru a Pagan book, they’d figure we do little more than relax, visualize and eat!

This now begs the question as to WHY there are no Ceremonial Magic culinary cookbooks out in print? Why there are no Vodu culinary cookbooks or Shamanistic culinary cookbooks? These practitioners eat too don’t they? Or is this truly a superfluous subject that only Wiccans seem to have in common?

My take is that food is a very individualistic thing. Putting together a culinary guide that covers all the recipes I’ll ever want is tempting however due to personal tastes as well as spontaneous hankerings for a certain “something” makes that a bit of a dream. For instance I have your typical Pillsbury & Betty Crocker cookbooks that I’ve picked up from yard sales over the years plus several other books dealing with Oriental cuisines and Hispanic foods as these two latter cuisines are my favorite.

Given the cheeky names of her subjects such as “Casseroles Coven-Craft”, “Barbecues and Blessed Be’s” and my personal favorite “Prayerful Poultry” (I’ve never seen any poultry pray), Trish tries to be serious by inserting folklore, legend and customs about how the various ingredients were used or prepared or outright shunned in various cultures.

Some of the recipes actually do look tasty but again the tongue-in-cheek names are almost hysterical. “Make It Count Beans” reminded me of the on-coming flatulence episodes of "if you’re gonna pass wind, make it count" even though she was speaking in terms of “bean counters”. LOL

All in all, it’s a cute book at best but not one I’d take all that seriously to aid your magical practices. Though this IS a “kitchen witch’s” guide still I don’t know of too many Wiccan practitioners who’ll be waiting until the right Moon phase before preparing Solar Goose or Self Control Cabbage.

The book does offer an index and bibliography and at twelve dollars and ninety-five cents I thought it a bit too much even with the interspersed folklore that I found interesting. I give this book a solid two out of five stars merely for it’s whimsical attitude of Wicca and culinary creations.