Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Wicca in the Kitchen Read Online Free PDF

just as no single type of haircut, food, or religion is suitable for all.
    Opinions vary, but it seems that people of most earlier cultures ate meat. One food scholar 29 states that no exclusively vegetarian society has ever been discovered. Certain members of a society may have avoided eating meat, but theirs wasn’t the usual diet. The reason for this may be that a strictly vegetarian people would have disappeared long before they could have left any traces.
    Many Westerners point to modern-day India, with its taboos against eating beef, as an example of a vegetarian society. This teaching is said to date back thousands of years. It does, but the Indian avoidance of beef-eating has had a checkered past.
    The Brahmins, the highest caste of India, ate beef in about 1000 b.c.e. †† The religious veneration of the cow began in India around 2,000 years ago, but it wasn’t until India’s independence in 1949 that cows gained legal protection against slaughter. 29 Vegetarianism among Buddhists is also common worldwide.
    But most Buddhists in India do eat dairy products, and the low yields of milk from the scrawny Indian cows provide a major source of protein for the Indians. Even Buddhist priests in Sri Lanka, Thailand, and other Buddhist countries eat meat. Most people of the lower castes in India, many of whom are starving, won’t turn down meat when it’s offered to them. In some cases, an empty stomach can overrule religious convictions. 29
    Still, there have always been vegetarians, and there have also always been omnivores (though most earlier cultures ate far less meat than we do today). Neither way is more “correct” or “ancient” or, indeed, spiritual, although many are likely to disagree with this statement.
    Those in the West who feel that vegetarianism is necessary for magical and spiritual work are correct—for themselves. If they’ve made this commitment, it’s best that they keep it. No one can make a commitment for another, however, and no one way is satisfying for everyone.
    Life feeds on life. Our bodies cannot survive unless something else gives up its existence to sustain us—whether it’s plankton, soybeans, or a chicken. This may seem cruel, but it’s not. It’s the reality of physical existence.
    What you decide to eat or not to eat isn’t as important as why you make this decision. If you’re vegetarian because you feel that it’s the only way in which you can achieve any form of spiritual enlightenment, fine. If you’re vegetarian because you’ve decided that you can’t practice magic if you eat meat, again, fine. But others can make alternate decisions. They can decide to be omnivores, achieve spiritual enlightenment, and still successfully practice magic. Neither position, once again, is correct for all.
    Personally, I seem to be somewhat eclectic regarding foods—I enjoy different types. Though many of my friends are vegetarians, I’m not. That doesn’t mean that I’ll periodically run to the kitchen and fry up a steak, or that I’m psychologically addicted to eating meat. It simply means that I haven’t made a commitment not to eat it.
    I did, indeed, once try a strict vegetarian diet, under the guidance of a long-time vegetarian and ceremonial magician. He taught me how to combine proteins so that I wouldn’t undernourished myself. It was an interesting experience avoiding all animal proteins and fat (did you know that lard is an ingredient of Oreo cookies?), but I quickly realized that it wasn’t right for me. By the second week of my diet, my head was constantly bumping into the ceiling. Walking became a mystical experience. Colors were brighter, I felt lighter, and my awakened psychic abilities were always present. This was pleasantly surprising, but I soon had an experience that changed my feelings.
    I was in a friend’s occult supplies shop one night as she was