Read an Excerpt
Introduction
Over the past decade, our society has become much more aware of the quality and sustainability of food and the importance of a diet that fits our individual health needs. In an eating revolution that’s already anchored in mindfulness, Divine Your Dinner is the next step toward integrating purpose into your palate.
The seed of this book was planted during a happy hour date at one of our favorite local watering holes (RIP Malo). Over some crispy ground beef tacos (which we re-created on page 70) and spicy margaritas, we got to talking about which is better: a spicy margarita or a regular one. Courtney argued that the simplicity of the standard margarita allows the flavor and integrity of the spirit to shine through. Melinda countered that spicy is better because chiles make us feel energetic, creative, and magickal through their transmission of Elemental Fire energy. And thus, the Great Culinary Magick Debates began!
That day, our favorite game emerged. Anytime we hung out and food was involved, we bounced around recipe ideas based on ingredients used in magick spells and rituals. We got really good at crafting menus around the energies we wanted to invite into our lives and bodies. With Melinda’s magickal prowess and Courtney’s food expertise, we matched food energies with tarot cards and, well, it was magick! The Sun flooded the light of clarity down upon us, the Ace of Swords spoke the truth of the ages, and the Emperor demanded it: We had to make a full deck of tarot recipes.
Even if you know nothing about tarot or why we spell “magick” with that “k” at the end, you can start integrating this sacred wisdom into your cooking right now. In fact, as you explore the recipes in these pages, you just might discover that you’ve been a kitchen witch all along! Here’s the thing—we didn’t invent magickal cooking. Throughout history, humans have been using common ingredients for uncommon purposes. Call it a folk remedy, call it a spell, call it being a hippie—kitchen witches know that food affects a lot more than just your stomach. Scratch the surface of any spell book and you’ll find all sorts of familiar faces from your pantry. Bay leaf, thyme, even salt. (Especially salt!) We’ve matched common ingredients up with the energies of tarot cards, allowing you to experience their power with maximum deliciousness.
Still fuzzy on how all this works? Not to worry. Read on for a quick tutorial on tarot (Tarot 101, page 8), an explanation of what on Earth we were thinking (Divine Inspiration, page 10), and how you can join our little coven and start divining your dinner (Ways to Use This Book, page 11). There’s also a handy list of our magickal ingredients and their properties (Magickal Ingredient Pantry, page 12).
