Signs of Taste
Photo: Courtesy of Amazon
The other day, I came across a unique volume titled Signs of Taste: A Gastrological Guide and Recipe Book by Steven Mark Weiss, which attempts to connect the signs of the zodiac with culinary preferences. I've long felt that astrology is about as useful as FEMA in helping the world deal with its woes. But Weiss, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, brings a combination of wit and knowledge to his theory that we're not just what we eat – but also what our star signs determine we're going to eat.
Reading through, I discovered that Aries lives for ice cream and frozen yogurt. Taurus likes breakfast in bed. Gemini is a big escargot eater. Leo likes baked goods and a cup of coffee. Virgo lives for chocolates. Libra's idea of a good time is a bowl of soup and a chicken salad sandwich (is that a good time for anyone?). Exotic Scorpio loves fish. Sagittarius spreads peanut butter on everything. Capricorn could eat meatloaf every day. Aquarius goes for soufflés and mousse. And Pisces lives for artichokes.
I'm a Cancer by birth, having arrived in the world early in the month of July. I've long heard that my sign means I like food (no kidding!) and that I'm insecure (no kidding again!). But according to Signs of Taste, I'm happy to live on shrimp cocktails and steaks. And spaghetti is my favorite dish. Which is odd, for even when mercury is retrograde, and the world is going to heck, I don't eat shrimp cocktails. Never have, never will. Like all the Cancers I know, I live to eat, rather than eating to live.
Because we're homebodies, Cancers love comfort foods that offer immediate gratification. You can often find us making a fine meal of canned Mexicorn and Sara Lee chocolate cake. A special evening for a Cancer involves a Trader Joe's frozen pizza, and a Diet Coke. When we go out, Cancers like to go to cafeterias like Souplantation, where there are lots of choices, and they can put all the condiments they want on their food. We live for McDonald's french fries. We never eat cottage cheese; it's too cold and clammy.
It's a fun parlor game. But I'm also reminded of what writer Charles Lamb observed two centuries ago: "Nothing puzzles me more than time and space, and yet nothing puzzles me less, for I never think about them either."
– Merrill Shindler