Food is where we get the nutrients to fuel our bodies. We create and preserve intimate social relationships by breaking bread, and we often heal different ailments through our diets. In the developed world, we have shopping centers filled with all types of foods, and we mostly partake without a thought about the history of what we’re eating.

But thousands of years ago in some of the earliest civilizations on the planet, these basic foods were believed to be a sort of magic. At one time, they were worshiped and revered. Besides being used to heal specific physical and emotional conditions, certain foods were believed to bring loved ones back from the dead, protect people from evil, and more.

10 Amaranth

We are probably all familiar with ancient grains. Whether we incorporate quinoa into our daily diets or see different varieties gracing the feeds of Instagram in the all-too-trendy smoothie bowls, we could each name a few if we had to.

But one ancient grain was thought to provide supernatural powers by the Aztecs over 500 years ago. Not only was it a major component of their diets, but it played a vital role in their religious practices.

Using honey and sometimes blood from human sacrifices, the Aztecs would often make a paste from the grains and use it to create statues of their gods. During ceremonies of worship, the statues would be broken into parts and passed out to members of the tribe for consumption. Supposedly, this paste was also used to create shields, bows, and arrows to give to newborn boys to symbolize their manly duties later in life.

When the Spanish invaded in 1519, the cultivation of this grain was forbidden along with the Aztecs’ religion. This was a way of forcing Christianity onto the civilization, and anyone who did not abide by the rules was punished severely.^[1]

9 Artichokes

Before we learned to dip these beauties in cheese sauce, artichokes were thought to have a variety of medicinal powers. We can find mention of artichokes as far back as Greek mythology.

Cynara was a beautiful mortal girl whom Zeus came across during a trip to see his brother Poseidon. Zeus took her to Olympus and made her a goddess. Then in typical Zeus fashion, he became enraged when Cynara sneaked home for a weekend visit with her mother. He threw her off Olympus and turned her into an artichoke.

Fast-forward to the first-century Romans, and they believed that parts of the artichoke could help to cure baldness and even aid with the conception of boys.

Artichokes were also rumored to be an aphrodisiac. This gossip was given a lot of steam when the French queen, Catherine de Medici, was said to have consumed a great quantity of them. At this time, women were banned from eating artichokes due to their sexual power.^[2]

8 Chives

These little babies are more than just a flavor of a chip. Some people have also produced different flavors of this plant’s magical history. Today, we know that chives are native to certain areas of Asia, Europe, and North America. However, there are at least two different stories about their first appearance in Europe and how they were once believed to be magic.

In one version, chives first appeared in Europe in the 13th century when Marco Polo brought them over from China. From there, the British created a tradition that hanging chives from the rafters and above doorways would provide protection against evil spirits.

However, a conflicting story says that chives were in Europe before Marco Polo. In this version, the ancient Romans used chives in their diets because they believed that the plant’s strong taste would bring greater strength. Racehorses, workers, and wrestlers ate chives regularly to enhance their strength. Chives were also a Roman remedy for sore throats and sunburns.^[3]

7 Cucumbers

Today, one of the most notable varieties of this refreshing vegetable is the English cucumber. However, they actually originated in India and have been grown for approximately 3,000 years.

One of the most unexpected uses of cucumbers goes all the way back to the Roman Empire. According to Pliny the Elder, these vegetables were used to promote fertility. Women would wear them around their waists, and midwives would carry them around and then dispose of them once a child was born.^[4]

In ancient Rome, cucumbers were also used to scare away mice, cure bad eyesight, and soothe scorpion bites.

6 Onions

This seemingly ordinary piece of produce was once anything but. Long before onions were bringing us to tears, they were objects of worship. In fact, onions are found throughout historical Egyptian art in a variety of shapes and sizes. These vegetables are painted into scenes of pyramids and the altars of certain gods.

The Egyptians related onions to eternal life due to their concentric layers and would bury their pharaohs with them. Onions have also been found in various body parts of mummies, such as the thorax and the pelvis.

So, why was the onion such a revered food to the Egyptians, especially when exploring the theme of death?

According to experts, it was a common belief that these beautiful bulbs could bring breath back to the deceased. Others say that the antiseptic properties may have been thought to be magical and therefore useful in the afterlife.^[5]

5 Apples

An apple a day keeps the doctor away—or so “they” say.

The belief that apples can cure all diseases or at least keep you healthier has been around for centuries. In fact, it is a common thread connecting multiple cultures.

But the apple is more than just a healer; it is a symbol that appears in folklore all the way back to Greek mythology. According to Irish folklore, heroes would eat apples to stay young and strong. In historical Chinese culture, the apple was given as a gift of peace.^[6]

The apple also represents love. The Balkans believed that when a woman accepted an apple from a man, she was engaged to him. In some Italian cultures, when a man was in love with a woman, he would present her with an apple to show and solidify his affection for her.

4 Corn

Today, corn is used for more than we even realize. Whether it is the buttery, fluffy movie snack or feed for countless types of livestock, corn is everywhere.

To the Aztecs, corn (or maize) was more than just a food source. They believed that the growth and harvest process was synced with the cycle of life: birth, regeneration, and death. They even had three female deities of maize to represent each cycle, and they were worshiped and thanked heavily throughout the cycle of the crop.

The deity Xilonen, representing the first or earliest crop of the summer, was worshiped with an elaborate festival. A young female slave was made to dress up as Xilonen during the eight days leading up to the festival. Men and women would dance, and the people were fed maize-focused foods.

On the last night of celebrations, the Xilonen impersonator was sacrificed as a way to show gratitude to Mother Earth for the life-sustaining crop and to ensure that the cycle of crops and life would keep coexisting harmoniously.^[7]

3 Dill

Dill is another herb that is plentiful in gardens today. However, before dill was a welcomed weed, it was thought in old folklore to bring people both love and happiness. Specifically, in Germany and Belgium, sprigs of dill would be attached to the bride’s dress or floral bouquet to bring the new couple blessings on their marriage.

Dill also has a grim side in mythology and old beliefs. European monks believed that dill could cause infertility and had the power to drive away male demons with an appetite for sexually preying on women.

Dill did find its place in witchcraft, too. Ironically, it had two uses, one on each of the extreme ends of the spectrum. Many believed that drinking a glass of dill water could reverse the effects of a spell cast on you and hanging sprigs around a home could protect from any impending spells. But others believed that witches used dill in their potions and while casting spells.^[8]

2 Figs

Figs appear as far back as the Bible and were considered to be highly spiritual. However, it isn’t just this beautiful fruit itself that is used for spiritual and magical purposes. The Kikuyu women in Africa took the sap from fig trees and spread it on themselves to increase fertility.^[9]

But not every belief surrounding the fig is as wonderful and welcomed as fertility. In Bolivia, people thought that evil spirits stayed in the canopies of fig trees and that walking under a fig tree could cause grave illness. In Papua New Guinea, figs are feared because they are believed to be haunted by evil spirits that will be released when the fruit is opened.

1 Poppy Seeds

Today, poppy seeds are famous in baked goods. Many are also aware of the relationship between poppy seeds and opium. But the magical history of the poppy seed predates what is common knowledge to us in the Western world.

In ancient Greece, the poppy was representative of Hypnos, the god of sleep, and so it was thought to aid sleep. Hypnos was believed to bring about dreams of a prophetic nature while also soothing emotional trauma. While this sounds all warm and fuzzy, the poppy seed was also believed to be associated with Hades, representing an eternal sleep or death.

In the Middle Ages, poppy cake was used by young women to determine the direction from which their one true love would come. A young woman would throw a piece of poppy cake out the door and have a dog fetch it. The direction from which the dog returned would be the same as that from which her true love would appear.^[10]

Poppy seeds also played contradictory roles in fertility. For example, poppy seeds put in the bottom of a bride’s shoe would result in infertility. Alternatively, eating sweetbreads made with poppy seeds on New Year’s Eve was believed to aid in abundance for the year to come.

Halsey is a freelance writer splitting time between Canada and the US. Always curious.

It is a massive life decision to join the military. Even though a marriage can kill you, signing up for the Army means you may be in a conflict-zone months after signing your life, your rights, and your freedoms away. In the United States Army, which is the specific branch discussed today, once your signature is on that enlistment document, you become property of the U.S. government.

So you passed your ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery), medical exam, and piss test (a hard one for all those stoners out there), what happens next? Recruiters are paid very decent bonuses for each recruit enlisted and some will say all kinds of things to get you in. But what’s the truth?

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10 Processing

Let’s use some practical knowledge here, you aren’t showing up to basic training with your favorite skateboard shoes and Gameboy color. Recruiters demand that you pack light and all non-regulation items are temporarily confiscated. Kind of like when you check into jail or prison. So no, you will not be able to bring your granddaddy’s WW2 revolver with you. You aren’t even allowed non-religious literature and the army even demands you use their letterhead and stationary for one of the only forms of correspondence you will have with the outside world (more on that later). So it’s pretty much underwear, socks, running shoes and the clothes on your back.

The army processes hundreds of people a day in a single fort and it typically takes a week of being bumped around temporary lodging, eating horrible prison-like cheese sandwiches with cafeteria cartons of milk, and what seems like days of signing your life away even further. Then, once all the paperwork is completed, they shave your head, fit you with camos (or A.C.U. for Advanced Combat Uniform) and boots, and then mercilessly stab you on your buttocks with about a dozen needles containing practically every inoculation known to mankind. You are their property and they make sure you are properly vaccinated. Processing is the most sleep-deprived, mundane, and in my opinion, worst part of basic training. Two days in and you will literally be begging to be assigned to a company, drill sergeant, and platoon. Processing is basically limbo where you are manhandled until you at least look like a soldier . . . but that doesn’t mean you are one.^[1]

9 Welcome to Basic

Once settled into your platoon you will get a proper welcome from your assigned drill sergeants. From the moment you meet them, they let you know exactly what you signed up for. Push-ups and laps, literally non-stop. But after bouncing from temporary bed to temporary bed during processing, it will be bittersweet to finally have a bed to call your own for the duration of basic training. Once introduced to your barracks, you scrub it clean and most recruits fail miserably the first few weeks trying to wax the floors with a buffer from the Korean War-era. Those first few days you get “smoked” (verb for punishment from a drill sergeant) for every little infraction as they are training you how to speak, think, and act like a “private”. They also start off with problem-solving obstacle courses and constant review and testing of ranks and weapon stats from the Basic Training Soldier’s Handbook. And the drill sergeants are watching, seeing who’s competent and who’s a buffoon.^[2]

8 Squad-Leaders, Weaklings, and Recyclables

Although the D.S.’s (Drill Sergeants) already know who is strong and who is weak, this is America and it is your own fellow members of your squad, a further breakdown of a platoon consisting of about a dozen soldiers, who decide who leads them. Squad-leaders don’t have direct power, but act as the intermediary between the D.S.’s and the rest of the squad and platoon. This is necessary because every single basic training cycle has at least one idiot who is going to be a “Gomer Pyle”. There are also usually “recycles” tagged onto a platoon who have failed the previous cycle and need to go through the entirety of basic again. Yes, if you fail, you go and do it all over again!^[3]

7 Gun Day

Surprisingly, you get your gun pretty much off the bat. It’s an exciting day for any soldier, but you will not fire it for weeks. It’s a bit torturous, but necessary. Like a puppy being house-trained, you need to be programmed to never let your rifle out of your sight. Then they gradually train you how the rifle works, constantly taking it apart and reassembling it. Finally, they take you out to the range on an almost daily basis. To graduate, out of 40 shots, 23-29 hits gets you marksman, 30-35 gets you sharpshooter, and 36-40 gets you expert marksman.^[4]

6 The Grub

Honestly, the food is not bad. You are property of the U.S. government and they want you well fed and maintained. For example, if you intentionally hurt yourself, you are charged with destruction of government property. With that being said, they keep you fed.

Breakfast is a massive deal on every base I’ve ever been stationed on and almost every base does two kinds of breakfast. You have the “Yankee” breakfast of eggs, bacon, English muffins, and even an omelet station (yes, even in basic), and then you have the “Southern” breakfast consisting of biscuits and gravy and grits. America is huge, we don’t alleat the same thing in the morning.

For lunch, you are almost always out in the field on a training exercise so they either set up a tent and serve chicken fried steak or spaghetti with greasy ground beef or they simply throw (literally, you can get smacked in the face with a bag while the D.S.’s hurl them) M.R.E.’s (Meals Ready to Eat). When you are that exhausted, everything looks like a Michelin-starred meal. Plus M.R.E.’s come in random flavors so it’s fun to sit in the dirt haggling and trading the various flavors of entrees or cookies.

Dinner is always solid. Pot roast, pasta, or even steak; there really is no place for vegetarians or vegans in the military. The ringer is that although the food is good, you seriously have two minutes to scarf it down before the D.S.’s start clearing the tables for the next round of privates. And I’m not exaggerating, you better inhale your meal or you go hungry.^[5]

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5 Barrack Life

Most recruits are in their teens. They’ve never left home and some come from very insular communities; being exposed to the massive variety of personalities can come as a culture shock. There is also always a handful at the start who won’t bathe in the group shower (it’s like high school football, don’t think you get a private spa) due to insecurities and wind up stinking like crackheads covered in their own feces after only a few days of constant exercise. Usually their fellow soldiers are tasked with forcing the accused to shower, and sometimes it can be a traumatizing experience. When I went, one guy went two weeks until he was eventually covered in Pine-Sol and scrubbed clean as the D.S. looked on in approval. He never missed a single shower again.

There also may be people who have been home-schooled or just grew up sheltered in general and this is their first experience of a social environment. It can be traumatizing and either way it’s always a sociological circus. Some recruits do freak-out and have mental breakdowns. Cool kids realize they actually aren’t all that cool and thugs realize they aren’t tough at all. Basic training is as hard on the mind and soul as it is on the body. You realize humanity is bonkers insane, but there is a bonding that occurs . . . a “we’re all in this hell together” sort of thing.^[6]

4 Running

Running is essential to all aspects of military life. In basic, you’re up at 0435 Hours and on the road by 0500. Running is split into three groups. Group A are the all-stars, the ones able to do a two-mile run in under fifteen minutes. Group B are your average runners who need improvement. Group C are those who should have worked out more before signing their enlistment contract. A recruiter clearly floated them past the initial tests for the bonus. You’re placed into your group pretty much from the start.

Fun little story, when I attended Fort Leonard Wood (we called it “Lost in the Woods”), my D.S., because I ran Group A, would allow me a slice of key lime pie . . . as long as I ate it in front of the Group C runners. Looking back, hilarious but malicious.^[7]

3 Wall Lockers and Contraband

Everything you own in basic is kept in something called a “wall locker”. These wall lockers are constantly inspected, and just like your uniform, must constantly be kept up to code. A standard punishment for a whole platoon or company would be having these wall lockers thrashed beyond imagination and then have to clean the mess back up and get it to code again. This makes hiding contraband very difficult. Contraband in basic isn’t what you think. I had my mother hide candy bars in new packages of socks and underwear she sent to me. A snickers bar could go for as much as $20. It was a luxury in hell. Some morons even went as far as to drink Listerine (now banned) or hand-sanitizer to try and get a buzz. Basic can lead to some desperate times.^[8]

2 The Outside World

As soon as you begin processing, all of your civilian documentation is taken away from you and you are left with a military issued I.D. and your debit card for the post exchange for soap and stationary. So, even if you were to sneak out of the barracks you still have no I.D. and you are confined, and probably being hunted, in a fortified first-world military compound. You’ll learn really quick you aren’t Jason Bourne.

You are also stripped of all communication devices. No cell phones, no tablets . . . nothing. I cannot stress this again. Nothing! You will not get access to email, and to this day everything is still analogue. You are allowed to hand-write letters on army–approved stationary and you get three phone calls the whole time. The first call once you get assigned to your company is to let your loved one’s know you are okay and where to send their letters. The second midway as a mental-reprieve, a reset for your soul to hear a loved one’s voice on the other end. And the final call to hopefully announce your pending graduation and success.

As for local and international news, every base puts out their own highly-censored weekly paper that everyone winds up fighting for to read the comics in the back. You are intentionally cut off from the world because the world is a distraction and you should only be focusing on your training. Plain and simple.^[9]

1 Graduation

You did it! It is one of the finest feelings in the world to graduate basic training. It is akin to the birth of a child or nailing a dream job. You are no longer a civilian. Throughout all those weeks you’ve learned to be a functioning human and soldier. You’re no longer some clueless dope leaving a mess everywhere you go. You can take care of yourself, clean-up after yourself, and most importantly . . . defend yourself.

Graduation is also the final bond for those who have been through hell with you. Military jargon for a fellow soldier is called a “Battle”. I am still in contact with my Battles and ask on a regular basis how they are doing as they do me. Every once in a while a message appears in my inbox asking “What’s good, Battle?”, reminding me that I was a part of something and I did something most people could not. I’m proud every day of my service and I wanted those who did not, or could not serve, to get a little taste of the beautiful and worthwhile hell I went through for almost three months. Over and out.^[10]

If you are interested in a career in the U.S. army, check out Go Army.

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