This food-as-medicine approach is true in other cultures, too. Take Shilpa Kerur’s experience of growing up in an Indian family. “Food is deeply intertwined with medicine and well-being, and I was raised to believe that the kitchen doubled as a pharmacy,” explained Kerur of the Lentil Loving Family blog. “We drank ‘haldi doodh,’ which is turmeric milk, at the first sign of a cough, and my mother would serve ‘khichdi’ - a dish of rice and lentils - when anyone was under the weather. Its gentle nourishment is considered a way to heal the digestive system and encourage overall recovery.”
These food anecdotes make sense in their cultural context in our modern times. However, years ago, many cultures believed that certain food items were more than just healing - they were downright magical. Here are a few of those examples.