A look back at what people once believed
How often have you seen someone in a movie make a necklace of garlic to protect themselves from a vampire?
How often have you seen someone in a movie make a necklace of garlic to protect themselves from a vampire? Of course, vampires aren’t real but people once thought garlic and other foods did have magical powers. In time for Halloween, read on to learn more about this culinary sorcery.
The magical powers people once believed food had
You might be surprised to learn how many foods, now common in our kitchens, were once imbued with mystical and magical significance. Even today, some are still aligned with certain medicinal properties. Take, for example, so-called Jewish penicillin - the common nickname for chicken soup. Of course, the broth doesn’t contain antibiotics but having soup when you’re feeling unwell helps to keep you hydrated.
If you didn’t grow up with a grandmother feeding you chicken soup, maybe you had a “nonna” instead - Italian for grandmother. Chances are she insisted on feeding you pastina, one of the smallest pasta shapes, to help you feel better when you were sick. For some reason, Italian families passed down through generations the magic that is pastina.
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.
An apple a day might just keep the doctor away
You’ve probably heard the saying about how an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Well, it isn’t just about eating fruit daily. A long time ago people believed that apples granted immortality. So, never mind avoiding getting sick - when you ate apples, you’d live forever.
It turns out there is some science behind the apple-a-day approach, and it just might make you live a little longer. According to The Washington Post, “In 2012, an Ohio State University study found that eating an apple a day helped significantly lower levels of bad cholesterol in middle-aged adults, and in 2011 a Dutch study found that eating apples and pears might help prevent strokes.”
Garlic is good for more than just repelling vampires
Every horror movie with a vampire likely mentions garlic as a way to repel this demon. But back in the real world, garlic can do much more than ward off bloodsuckers. According to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, garlic contains a chemical compound called allicin. It is a naturally occurring antibiotic that some modern-day cultures use to help wounds heal, including those practicing Eastern medicine.
Mainstream healthcare practitioners have also embraced garlic’s seeming magic, specifically allicin. One study included on the National Institutes of Health website looked at whether allicin could help prevent infections from drug-resistant bacteria. The results showed that it “inhibited the growth of a broad range of bacteria, including multidrug-resistant strains.”
Potatoes as a cure for arthritis
If you ever read the “Little House on the Prairie” book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, then you may recall that one of the ways pioneers kept warm in winter was by slipping hot potatoes under the covers with them. Understandably, the heat from the potato would quickly warm their extremities.
However, this tactic may have originated in the United Kingdom and for different reasons - as a cure for rheumatism, known today as arthritis. During Victorian times, people believed that keeping a potato in their pocket would help to cure joint pain. It’s not clear, though, if the potato had to be a hot potato or just a regular one.
Regardless, heat can help with arthritis symptoms. According to the Arthritis Foundation, research has shown that heat treatments can loosen stiff joints and relieve achy muscles. So maybe a hot potato as an arthritis treatment is still relevant in today’s world.
Cucumbers could stop you from overheating
You know that old adage cool as a cucumber? Well, it may have originated in ancient India. There, people believed that cucumbers could stop you from overheating and becoming ill. They used cucumbers in their practice of Ayurveda, a kind of alternative medicine popular in South Asia.
Given cucumbers’ high water content and therefore its hydrating abilities, that mystical property doesn’t seem so far fetched in modern times. Also, how often have you seen people at a spa with cucumbers on their eyes to reduce swelling and puffiness? Maybe those practicing Ayurvedic medicine were onto something after all.
Dill, chives and onions keep you healthy against evil spirits
Long ago, people believed that dill could defend against any illness that evil spirits might bring upon your household. People often used it in charms and spells as added protection. These days, dill might have magical healing powers but in a different way. It is one of the main ingredients in Jewish chicken soup.
People thought similarly about chives and onions and how they might protect you from evil spirits. For instance, during medieval times, Europeans would hang chives in their homes to protect themselves from evil spirits. Similarly, in ancient Egypt, mourners would place onions around a loved one’s tomb to ensure safe passage to the afterlife.
In modern times, we think of onions and chives - which are really green onions - as ingredients that give recipes great flavor. They still have some medicinal properties worth noting. According to the Cleveland Clinic, onions and chives are full of antioxidants, which, when consumed, can lower some people’s chances of developing cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
No magic pill but delicious
Clearly, no food or herb has magical or curative powers but many of them are delicious to eat and are likely good for you in one way or another. So, the next time you enjoy dill, cucumbers or even onions with a meal, you can share some of these fun facts with your fellow diners.
When Leah Ingram was little and came down with a cold, her grandmother would feed her Jewish penicillin aka chicken soup. Now Leah covers authentic Jewish and Italian recipes along with other cuisine on her blog Bagels and Lasagna.
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