Cooking and the Craft: Channeling Your Inner Kitchen Witch

Bunny is a Chicana mother & kitchen witch living in Switzerland. She is a consultant and you can learn more about her and request her services at her website Bunny McFadden, Education & Equity Consultant.

What is a Kitchen Witch?

The salt flies through the air, caught on the thick bristles of my mother’s broom. She’s just sprinkled a pinch of it over her shoulder, and immediately she’s practicing mise en place. Why the superstition if it’s immediately followed by annihilation? It takes me years to understand that the act itself is her gift to me.

What is a kitchen witch?

It’s a bit of mindful kitchen practices combined with magic. In New Mexico, kitchen witchery is tied deeply to the historical practice of Curanderismo, or herbal healing. From the way you stir your food to the way you organize your herbs, the kitchen witch menu is all about personalization. Like any good recipe, you take what works for you and leave the rest behind. If your family has an allergy, a tie to a particular culture or spiritual constraints on ingredients, kitchen witchery recipes can be adjusted to accommodate it.

Accessibility and Flexibility

Although a cast iron pan is widely considered essential for the work of a kitchen witch, it can be cumbersome and heavy, even dangerous, for some. Kitchen witches are not obligated to use tools that don’t work for them; lightweight pans can make spellwork easier and safer for some. Garlic wards hung in the kitchen to collect nefarious intentions might be replaced with another allium or even a symbolic object in the case of allergies. Ingredients can be swapped based on seasonal availability, kosher guidelines or personal preference. Kitchen witchery is all about personalization. After all, our ancestor guides passed down different taste buds to each of us.

Creating a Kitchen Witch Menu

When creating a kitchen witch menu, I like to look at the science and history of ingredients.

• Alliums like garlic, onion, and shallots have been considered magical charms for millennia. They also work to preserve food and guard against harmful microbes.

• In the American Southwest, where my maternal line originates, the Three Sisters were grown together for spiritual and practical purposes. Corn, beans, and squash thrive when planted together, so they serve as complimentary ingredients in my cooking.

• Seasonal availability is often linked to the power imbued in the elements of cooking. Be mindful of what is in-season in your area, and be flexible with yourself. This includes whether something is available fresh versus frozen or jarred; it does not make you less authentic if you cook with what’s at your fingertips.

• Consider growing ingredients if you have the time, space, energy, and light.

• Like any magic, be mindful of what is your lane. Cultural appropriation and environmental impact are two things to consider when choosing ingredients. The parable of quinoa serves as a cautionary tale when it comes to colonizing indigenous foods.

One final note: Kitchen spellwork isn’t limited to edible food. Charms, poultices, teas, and satchels all carry power in them when made with intention. When ingredients are chosen and combined with purpose and thought, the outcome will be steeped in magic.