A Witch in the Kitchen: Food Superstitions

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You throw rice at weddings and snag the long end of the Thanksgiving wishbone, toss salt over your left shoulder, blow out the candles on your birthday cake, and clink wine glasses together before taking a sip. We all have our superstitions. And look how many of them revolve around food.

Superstitions can defy logic, scientific knowledge, and rational thought. They are beliefs without scientific foundation; a way to understand the incomprehensible. The funny thing about superstitions is that they are all a matter of perspective. One person’s superstition is another’s cultural or religious truth.

Here are some of our more common food-related superstitions:

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Thunder will turn your milk sour, and moonlight will spoil a ham.

Take the last cookie and you’ll end up an ‘old maid.’

Two yolks in an egg means a marriage is coming soon. A spot on a yolk is a bad omen, but nowhere near as bad as an egg with no yolk at all.

Timing is everything: Bake your cake while the sun is rising, and never gather blackberries after October 11th.

Rub rum on a bald man’s head to grow hair.

Drop your silverware and company will come calling: a fork means a woman will visit, a knife means a man will visit.

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You can laugh at broken mirrors and take a black cat for a walk under a ladder on the next Friday the 13th. Health, wealth, happiness, and true love can all be yours when you eat your way to a lucky break.

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