James Duvalier

In the autumn of 2006, I moved to Romania to pursue a master’s degree at Babes-Bolyai University and I had a roommate named Danny who used to bring back all kinds of delicious traditional foods from his home town.  One time he returned with something that looked like a cross between pudding and porridge, made from a base of cooked wheat mixed with raisins and nuts and ornately decorated with dried coconut, cocoa powder, bits of chocolate…
Continue Reading

Amish Friendship Bread has been around for decades, the recipe having made its first appearance on the internet in early 90’s and having been circulated via Xeroxed copy and in hand written form prior to that. Despite the name, this sweet, cake-like quick bread does not have its origins in Amish communities and perhaps derives its name from the similarities it bears with several coffee cakes and sweet breads that are typical of Amish cookery. The Friendship…
Continue Reading

Years ago, when I worked as a classroom assistant and tutor at an elementary school in Massachusetts, I had a colleague from Haiti and one day shortly before the holiday break we were discussing our plans for Christmas and New Years’ and she mentioned a traditional soup that Haitians both in Haiti and the diaspora eat on New Year’s Day: Soupe Joumou (in Creole) or Soupe au giraumon (in French). This is a fragrant, flavorful soup with…
Continue Reading

Most of the ingredients and products that we buy at the grocery store have spiritual connotations: apples, cinnamon, cloves, honey, nutmeg, pumpkins, sugar are all commonly used in love magic.  Rice, oatmeal, raisins, grapes, oranges can all be used in prosperity magic.  Not only are the ingredients themselves magical, but the act of cooking is a type of alchemy or culinary sorcery in which you combine ingredients in a type of potion, or ritual to create something…
Continue Reading