Complete with instruction on everything you need, The Magic in Food provides recipes and direction, fasc inating food lore and practical spells you can do in the pri vacy of your own home. It''s a book that can put anyone on th e path for a better life. '
Scott Douglas Cunningham was an American writer. Cunningham is the author of several books on Wicca and various other alternative religious subjects. His work Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, is one of the most successful books on Wicca ever published; he was a friend of notable occultists and Wiccans such as Raymond Buckland, and was a member of the Serpent Stone Family, and received his Third Degree Initiation as a member of that coven.
I’ve been wanting to read Scott Cunningham’s “The Magic in Food: Legends, Lore & Spellwork” but because there wasn’t an ebook available, I had to specifically order an older used hard copy. This, like all of Cunningham’s books, was a fantastic read. Like so many of his other works, Cunningham focused on Magic rather than religion.
The one thing that I love about Cunningham’s writing style is that he always includes endnotes and a bibliography. I realize that the vast majority of people writing in this genre don’t do that, but including sources really does lend credibility to an author’s writing.
Cunningham was a responsible writer. My only regret is that he passed away so early.
I’ll be honest, I don’t know. It’s split down the middle for me, hence the 3 star.
On the one hand, I like the premise of the book. A decent portion of it is well researched and helpful. However, there are plenty of comments that don’t sit right. Perhaps it’s merely because times have changed and our view towards the discussion of food, “health”, and weight have changed.
There’s an obvious bias from Scott towards a number of foods such as prepackaged items (including spices such as garlic), organic, no fast food, and a huge emphasis on limiting sugar. For some, this is fine. For me, the obvious bias he’s written gets old. I see no harm in having a heavy, sugary meal as a celebration (for example see page 292). It’s a celebration.
Overall, I don’t know that I’d recommend this one. I’m on the fence. Does it have good information? Yes. Does it also have dated, sometimes problematic approaches? Yes.
If you struggle with food, diet culture, eating disorders, and so on, you’ll want to pass on this one.
The only difficulty I had with the book is some of the evidence he used for his conclusions. Some of the study sizes were really small. This is a good book if you are interested in changing your diet away from the SAD. You can take the general recommendations without necessarily adhering to all of the details.