The introduction to Emma Kay’s A History of Herbalism: Cook, Cure, and Conjure offers a comprehensive portrait of her fascinating subject, preparing the reader for what to expect, and what not to expect, in her historical account of herbalism. She specifies that her focus is on herbs and their properties, and not on spices. Pursuing this thread, this book details the relationship between people and herbs over the centuries, exploring their use in magic, cooking, and medicine, as indicated in the titles of the book’s three chapters. Notes for each chapter appear at the end of the book, followed by a comprehensive bibliography.
The historical account of herbs ranges widely across an ancient panorama. In European antiquity, Kay begins with Hippocrates, the father of medicine, and his hypothesis regarding the four body humors that can be kept in balance with the help of certain plants and herbs. In ancient Babylon, inscriptions record detailed cooking recipes and instructions using herbs, while further to the east, the medicinal qualities of herbs was a theme richly developed in ancient China. In Japanese traditional medicine, which is based on ideas similar to those of China, the mind and gut cannot be regarded separately. Kay’s coverage then moves to the African continent, where, she contends, the majority of people have relied on traditional medicine and on healers who use medicinal plants. The same, she claims, was the case in Egypt for thousands of years, as ratified in the oldest herbal-medicine document, The Ebers Papyrus. In India, the Ayurveda (Knowledge of Life) text collected the herbal and spiritual facets of ancient teachings, and the renowned Rig-Veda lists more than 1000 medicinal plants. In the Mediterranean world, Greek and Roman botanists, such as Dioscorides and Pliny, are famous for their medicinal theories, particularly those dealing with herbs use in animal healings.
Turning to the Middle Ages, Kay takes note of the dominant belief that plants had spirits living in them that were capable to cure illnesses and pain, along with properties connected to planets, particularly Saturn, the Moon, the Sun, Mars, Venus, and Mercury, which were thought to influence the four elements in the human body. More than that, it was believed that the Zodiac sign in which one was born could be useful in identifying a person’s future illnesses. In this historical moment, Kay observes, monasteries were the center of academic activity and also the sites where medicinal plants were harvested and used in infirmaries for treating patients. It was, writes Kay, a time when the lines between mythology, medicine, folklore, magic, and science were very blurry, and herbal practitioners, regarded as wizards or witches, were sometimes subject to capital punishment. Kay argues that the knowledge and use of herbal medicines became widespread in the period between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and that by the nineteenth century the sciences of pharmacology and biomedicine came into being, though the use of older methods like leeches and mercury were still practiced.
In chapter 1, “From Witches to Botanists: British Pioneers, Popularists and Everyday Herbalists,” the author records the history of herbalism in England, noting the presence in every village of a “yarb,” a specialist who applied herbal treatments. The oldest medicinal text in England, a manuscript left by Bald, a doctor or “leech,” known as Bald’s Leechbook, was based on local traditions and folklore. We are also told that the famous poet Geoffrey Chaucer was a botanist, and that his main character, Doctor Physic, reflects the position of early medics who were thought to take advantage of the sick. In this chapter the author presents histories of many botanists and apothecary keepers from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, highlighting their role in society; it also includes sections on “Quackery and Hazardous Herbology,” “Strewers and Sellers,” and “Herb Illustrators,” the last of these offering a very informative, though brief, history of these illustrators.
The lives of English female and male herbalists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are also detailed in this first chapter, telling of those who administered herbal treatments, including these: Dr. Richard Shephard of Preston and his treatments with angelica; the talented artist and botanist Elizabeth Blackwell; Amelia Woodcock, known locally as “The Wise Woman of Wing,” “who spent a great deal of time gathering herbs from local fields” (28); and John Skelton, practicing herbalist who followed the principles created by the American botanist Samuel Thomson.
Chapter 2, “Magic and Medicine,” addresses the centuries-old connections between some magical plant properties, the precise moment of their picking, and the ritual incantations that accompany the herbal preparation for successful treatments. Two alphabetically arranged lists form the core of this chapter, consisting of specific herbs associated with magic and of medicinal herbs used for treatments and cures. There are histories and anecdotes for each herb; for example, it is noted that sage had an established reputation among the Greeks and Romans. Hence, the Roman naturalist Pliny and the Greek philosopher Celsus believed that this herb was instrumental in restoring memory, and that it could cure symptoms of the plague (106).
“Culinary Transition” is the title of the third chapter, expanding the book’s horizons to include recipes that rely on herbs from various parts of the world. The reader will find short histories about dishes like stews and soups, called pottages in medieval Britain, made of vegetables and oats and seasoned with herbs, many included in The Forme of Cury, considered the first English cookbook, from the fourteenth century, created by cooks in King Richard II’s court. Recipes for vegetable stews, broths, compotes, soups, salads, and sauces are detailed, offering a fascinating display for the casual reader, even more so for a cook with an interest in culinary history. In addition to the history of herbal use in Britain, Kay records culinary stories from all over the world, such as a Russian instructional manual compiled during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, which also lists herbs forbidden in both cooking and sorcery. We learn, among many other insights, that the Chinese text The Rites of Zbou was the subject of the French culinary-historian Henri Lecourt’s investigations, and it was he who brought soybean paste to the attention of chefs.
A History of Herbalism: Cure, Cook and Conjure is an interesting and informative treatise, featuring the use of herbs in healing and food preparation, and it traces the history of some of these herbs, leaving the reader wishing for even more historical anecdotes. One lack is the absence of an index to facilitate quick access to the herbs treated in the book and the recipes based on them.
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[Review length: 1099 words • Review posted on November 19, 2023]