This went directly into the DNF pile. The Witch’s Feast wasn’t anything what I’d hope it would be. Not only unreadable, but the recipes are uncookable.

I received a sample of this book as an advanced reader copy for review however the limited scope of the sample makes it difficult to review. I really enjoyed the historical information that preceded each recipe. The recipes that were included in the sample very traditional, some bordering on ancient, rustic recipes. By the look of the table of contents page, the things that would have intrigued me to buy the book would have been in the 'Feast of spells' section. It looks to be a well researched and high quality book, I might have to have a flick through a copy at a book store when it is released to decide whether it's something I'd like to purchase.

As a practicing witch and pagan I was extremely impressed with this offering. It felt very authentic and well researched. It’s obvious the author knows her stuff. I follow the wheel of the year so I was interested to see if there would be many recipes I felt I could incorporate into my sabbat celebrations.

The recipes all sounded absolutely decadent and mouth watering. I also enjoyed the information that was a precursor to each recipe. Wonderful aspects of history, magic and lore was woven in and I found it all fascinating.

Thank you to Netgalley, Watkins Publishing and the author for providing me with a free copy of this book to review. I look forward to seeing the book in its entirety!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review, which has not altered my opinion of this book.

This sounds super interesting! While I was only able to get a sampler of this book, I am for sure interested in getting a full copy, purely for the historical information as well. This speaks like what I have heard and seen as a sort of grimoire of food and I think that is fascinating!

Highly recommend! 4 out of 5 for the sampler

In this extended preview and blad, Melissa Madara shares several recipes from her forthcoming 'The Witch's Feast: A Kitchen Grimoire'. Readers will be intrigued by the historical contexts while recreating feast dishes as well as wide-spread ritual beliefs from areas such as The Roman Empire, Eastern Europe and Russia, Celtic Scotland, and Babylonia. This sampler sets a great tone in anticipation of Madara's complete hardback

I didn't realize I had only received a "sampler" - guess I didn't read the Netgalley description close enough, my bad. I was disappointed by that as the book seems incredibly interesting, with history tidbits to go along with the recipes. The recipes that I was able to review did seem a bit complicated, and I would've liked more photos to accompany them.

ARC REVIEW:

This was such an informative and neat book. I am excited to try the focaccia recipe! It has the right mood and tone for the season, but also for all year long for the witches in your life. I only dropped the rating to 4 stars because the book is VERY short.

I’ll definitely be buying this when it’s out! I loved this little sampler.
Really liked that it comes with snippets of history and what the feasts mean!
The Fornacalia Focaccia looks so yummy, I’ll definitely be trying that! (I’m a notoriously bad cook but these instructions looks nice and easy to follow!)

This was only a sampler but from what I read this was such a good book! I can't wait to read the rest!

A combination of magical recipes and the history and folklore of witches and witchcraft to compliment. For all fellow witches this book is an essential to add to your collection! This is a cookbook like no other!

The photographs are tantalising! There are so many of these recipes and traditions that I want to try. It's a real treasure trove of a collection, one that I will be adding to my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Watkins, Nourish Publishing for this eARC in exchange for an honest review

The Witch's Feast is an awesome book perfect for anyone interested in history and cooking. Author Melissa Madara begins with recipes and history of celebrations from 10,000 years ago. She provides details about pharmakos cakes, a representation of sacrificial animals made with honey, figs and cheese. The recipe is well written and includes a picture finished cakes shaped like cows. Loved reading about the history, spices and recipes in the context of witchcraft and holistic ritual practice. Highly recommend for personal use or as a gift.

The Witch’s Feast by Melissa Madara

9781848994034

Pages – Sampler
Publisher: Watkins / Nourish
Release Date: October 26, 2021

Nonfiction, Cooking, Food & Wine, Religion & Spirituality

This is a review for the sampler. The book is divided into the following sections with beautiful photography.

Feast of the Ancestors: Traditional feasts, recipes and rituals of witches past
Feast of the Stars: Cooking through the zodiac
Feast of the Heavens: Planetary magic in the kitchen
Feast of the Earth: Seasonal meals for the solstices and equinoxes
Feast of Spells: Potions, rites and dinner spells

In the first section, the author provides a very thorough description of the traditions by various cultures. She also discusses how the changes from hunter/gatherer societies has led us to today’s feasting and celebrating tables. I love how the author includes a small rite at the end of some recipes.

The Roast Chicken with Babylonian Spices uses readily available ingredients and sounds amazing. I appreciate the author’s tip on carefully reading the instructions as you prepare the meal.

The Pharmakos Cakes are made with dried figs, wine, flour, and goat cheese. She gives a list of festivals when it would be appropriate to serve these cakes. She also gives an example of an ancient ritual a town may have performed to get rid of ills in the community that sounds horrible. I am glad that sacrifices now are bloodless.

To recreate a Pagan Feast, the recipe includes moretum, an herbed cheese, herb salad, pita breads, lamb roast, and cheesecake for dessert. The ingredients consist of several fresh herbs that could be tricky to find in a grocery store (for example savory and rue) but the instructions are easy to follow.

The Fornacalia Focaccia has easy to follow directions and the ingredients are readily available. I love bread baked with rosemary and put it on my to-be-baked list. I especially love the invocation for Hecate at the end of the recipe.

Celtic Struan for Michaelmas is mentioned in the Carmina Gadelica and sounds like a heavy loaf of bread. The author gives advice to watch it while baking because this loaf tends to crack on the top.

If you like ancient traditions or are looking for other ways to honor your deity, I recommend this book. It is obvious the author has done her research on the topic. I look forward to the book being published so I can get the full book.

I am so excited to read the rest of this cookbook. The photos are stunning and the recipes sound superb. The historical context behind each dish in the sampler arc I received was done so well. I learned a lot and enjoyed reading it immensely. I think this cookbook will be a massive hit. I am generally a very critical reader, but I have nothing negative to say about this one.

The Witch’s Feast
A Kitchen Grimoire

* Beautiful photos and images/graphics
* Love the title fonts

The review chapter gave a nice overview of the history of food and celebrations from thousands of years ago. It described how people worked together in order to grow, preserve and store their food and enjoy meals and feasts together.

It further discussed the importance and tradition of community and the impact of deities within the cultural sense.

Overall, the recipe section was very pleasing to review as the pictures were beautifully done. The only critique that I have is that the recipes step section is quite wordy. Other than that I would definitely pick up this book and give it five stars.

I have loved this project!

Beautiful photos with a cottagecore aesthetic and witchy vibes, lots of useful information about sabbat and herbs. Definitely, a wonderful art piece to have on my bookshelf as a kitchen witch 🌿

I've received a sampler of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review

Not very familiar with the witchery world, but I loved the title and the idea, especially since it's this time of the year and this book, thus, feats perfectly with the fall mood. My sample was only on the ancient feasts, (though I've read in the contents that there are several dining ideas like recipes especially picked for every zodiac sign, which I've found pretty interesting) and it had lots of historical info, which the historian in me appreciated a lot. The recipes seemed great too and I'm going to try some, as most of them had easily accessible ingredients and their own unique story. The photos were nice and atmospheric, though, I would have liked if they hadn't used the same pics back to back.

I always find it hard to give a review on a sampler - I hadn't realised this was what I was going to get and my opinion might be skewed because of the restricted look I had on the book.
While I loved the story and lore behind the few recipes I saw, I found the photography a little underwhelming. The very organic/rustic aspects of the food are to be expected - and as a fan of medieval cookbooks, are something I enjoy, but the muted colours and presentation had something quite old fashioned, almost 80s-ish about it and not as attractive as many cookbooks or blogs today. For this reason, the dishes didn't seem all that appetising to me and I wasn't inspired to try them out. It feels like a big shame when you see the amount of research in this book.
I expect this one is more for people who enjoy the witchcraft topic - but the little look I had doesn't let me judge how relevant it was, it started with a very historical feel and I have much prettier historical cookbooks with recipes translated or adapted from ancient texts.

Sampler Only
Of the 35 pages read, this seems to be a very engaging cookbook. The photos are lovely, and there's a lot of details on the background and history of the dishes.
This would be the perfect book for anyone wanting to bring a bit of magic and wholeness to their feasts.

[I received a copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review]

This is a book with lovely photos, by an obviously accomplished baker and religious practitioner. The writing about the festivals is a bit more accessible than the recipes, but this book is quite niche. Sadly it wouldn't go far in my library in East Tennessee, but I'd purchase it if I had my way, for representation if nothing else. Learning about the different parts of the year, Celtic festivals, and the religious practices of ancestors and modern practitioners is very interesting. The author is also a trained pastry chef, so these recipes have some obscure ingredients and required skills. The dark tinge to the photos and the gothic font lend to the overall "dark" theme of a book that doesn't seem like it holds dark recipes.

This is essentially a recipe book, but it is actually so much more! Melissa Madara gives a fascinating, brief history of cooking. She explains how, in ancient times, it was an important way for groups of people to work together to collect or hunt for ingredients before cooking, sharing and eating together. Each recipe is accompanied by a brief explanation of its origins and the significance of food in celebrations is outlined. Thank you to Melissa Jayne Madara, Net Galley and Watkins Publishing Ltd for an ARC sampler in exchange for an honest review.

Both food and magic are creative acts that require practice, intuition and a little bit of experimentation. They are also seductive arts, with an air of secrecy, served as an act of devotion to our environment. The Witch's Feast invites you to the ritual table, to engage with the craft through cooking, eating, and sharing delicious feasts with others.

This book is easier to view in the NetGalley shelf than in the Kindle app which scrambles the pages.

Since this was only a sample of the book, I don't feel like I can really rate this, although I will be borrowing it from a library when it is published.