A History of Herbalism: Cure, Cook, and Conjure

Food historian Emma Kay uses historical botanical writing as a lens to explore society's “desire to reclaim what has been lost from our environments and a shift toward understanding better the properties of nature to enhance our health, well-being, and spiritual happiness” (p. xxiv). She delineates her focus to include only herbs—not vegetables or spices—in medicine, magic, and cooking. Writing for an engaged popular audience, Kay relies on published and archival texts, ranging from the ninth to the twentieth century, mostly produced in English or directly contributing to the development of cuisine and culture in modern Great Britain. She situates her interest in “blurred lines between mythology and medicine, folklore and science” (p. xx), arguing that studying the uses of herbs shows the connections between health, sustenance, and belief.A History of Herbalism: Cure, Cook and Conjure contains four parts: an introduction and three chapters providing background, documentation, and analysis of the texts. In the introduction, Kay grounds her argument in Classical Greek uses of herbs to focus on scientific exploration rather than the “strange magical and pagan notions of medicine” (p. xi) that occurred as Greek knowledge spread throughout Western Europe. She briefly cites global botanical medical practice before fully centering on works developed in Western Europe, especially England. Not ignoring nontraditional practitioners, Kay also references the “herbalists, yarbs, wortcunners, witchdoctors, wise women and sorcerers” (p. xix) as the earliest medical practitioners. However, she glosses over their (albeit limited) documented contributions while favoring publications of established medical practitioners and scientists. Kay investigates botanical, culinary, and medicinal texts from the sixteenth through the early twentieth century, citing Maude Grieve's A Modern Herbal (Dover Publications, 1931) as the quintessential summation of this knowledge.From this foundation in botanical history, Kay moves into a discussion of the personalities involved in the interpretation and dissemination of botanical knowledge. Her first chapter, appropriately titled “From ‘Witches’ to Botanists: British Pioneers, Popularists, and Everyday Herbalists,” describes the spread, from the Mediterranean, of both scholarship and plants along trade routes. She focuses on the legal and state-controlled organizations: the apothecaries, grocers, and physicians who were officially part of the guild structure. The bulk of this chapter presents biographies of influential herbalists and herbalist-adjacent individuals, starting with Geoffrey Chaucer (as Kay argues, a botanist in his own right) and moving through a series of individuals who published herbals and related texts. She highlights the scarcity of published works by women and others lacking traditional forms of education, stating that “while some herbalists and physicians undoubtedly had the skills to ease the pain of others, they could just as easily cause more damage than good. For every genuine healer, there were many more willing to exploit the suffering of others for their own gain” (p. 33). The absence of non-university-trained practitioners in this chapter limits the range of perspectives and, ultimately, silences the peripheral voices. But, perhaps, that is a line for future inquiry.After this extended situating of her resources, Kay moves into the focus of her work: the combinations of medicine, magic, and the culinary arts. Chapter 2, “Magic and Medicine,” explores the connections between the applications of herbs, acknowledging that timing, location, and context contribute to the efficacy—both real and placebo—of herbal magic. The first half of the chapter relies on select sources, including a German poem from the ninth century that explores how the form of the plant determined its use. The second half of the chapter emphasizes first the magical applications for some plants, then medicinal uses of others. Kay links the medicinal and magical applications through the structure of the overall chapter; she draws not from a single source but rather synthesizes a variety of uses and descriptions. Providing more detail, from all applications, for a range of plants, would elevate this analysis, as would an index that encouraged cross-referencing between the differing applications.The final chapter, “Culinary Transition,” contains the heart of Kay's research. She uses her extensive experience as a food historian to explore both the historical documentation and the vast modifications that have developed over time. Included are recipes for a range of stews, salads, sauces, pies, and other dishes, presented with significant detail and commentary. Kay acknowledges that her previous chapters have focused on works created and disseminated by northern Europeans, so here she intentionally incorporates recipes and herbs from other cultures (such as Mediterranean, Indian, and Japanese) that influence the modern British culinary landscape. Here is the culmination of Kay's argument: Herbs serve their purpose within medicine and magic but ultimately are supplementary to the preparation of appealing, nutritious sustenance. Still, many recipes reproduced here are chosen because they have an appetizing flavor and also serve a deeper medicinal purpose.The book's biggest contribution is to provide historical and cultural context to the idea that herbal recipes—those that expand the palate, but also serve a medicinal or spiritual purpose—provide more than just appealing food options. Knowing what people ate in the past gives only part of the story: Kay's research broadens our understanding of the connections between what people ate and how they expected it to impact their spiritual lives and physical health.Kay's analysis of the broad potential for the use of herbs raises questions about the balance between traditional uses and modern applications. While much of her argument relies on published, reasonably available sources, her work opens the door for additional research into the parallel development of herbal usage reflected in sources outside those traditionally studied. A History of Herbalism provides a starting point for more exploration of botanical history as an inspiration for historians, folklorists, plant biologists, and medical practitioners to closely analyze written manuscripts, published works, oral tradition, and other forms of knowledge dissemination. This analysis could add to a deeper understanding of not only current and historical mainstream applications of knowledge, but also to the roots of the usages that informed these published texts: the traditional healers, magical practitioners, and cooks, whose collective experiences provided the foundation for the published scholars’ research. Kay's work is a starting point for this further exploration.