Farber Monte - Signs & seasons: an astrology cookbook

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Cover design: HarperCollins

Cover art: Christos Georghiou; Naniti; Baimieng | Shutterstock

Food photography: Monte Farber

SIGNS AND SEASONS. Copyright 2017 by Monte Farber and Amy Zerner. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN: 9780062461346

EPub Edition March 2017 ISBN: 9780062461360

Dedicated to our mothers

JESSIE SPICER ZERNER,

who helped conceive this cookbook.

Her nurturing, love, and creativity live in these pages.

GAETANA PENZAVECCHIA OKAS,

whose New World approach to

Old World cooking was ahead of its time.

JENNIE FARBER,

who gave me life and made me look to the stars.

LONG BEFORE ANY NATIONS OR EVEN HUNTER-GATHERER TRIBES EVOLVED, OUR BODIES WERE IMPRINTED WITH THE MANTRA WHATS TO EAT?

A re you looking to find epicurean as well as spiritual satisfaction? Do you want to make meals not only a time of communion with family and friends but also an opportunity to deepen your understanding of your appetite and how it connects you to the cycle of the seasons and thus to nature and the very universe itself? If youd like to know more about how cosmic influences work in the realm of food and how each of the signs prefers to eat and cook, then this book is for you. Signs and Seasons is all about an astrological approach to cooking and eating, one which emphasizes both sensual nourishment and psychic satisfaction.

Long before any nations or even hunter-gatherer tribes evolved, our bodies were imprinted with the mantra Whats to eat? On the physical level, our appetites are at the root of our being. Our need for food is the most basic thing about us. Within every human being there is an emptiness, an implacable vacuum that becomes increasingly insistent after mere hours of not eating.

And as humans, our sensual, social, and spiritual needs coexist with our biological needs. Besides being a necessity, food is undeniably the most consistent and reliable pleasure we have. Food has a social function. Its a means for contact between people. Certainly, one of the best things about a good meal is sharing the experience with others. And eating food is a sacrament. As a living instance of the mystery of matter becoming energy, a meal is communion with the spirit.

As the cosmic wheels turn, the energies particular to each astrological Zodiac sign are at play in some way or at some time in all our lives. The basic premise of astrology is that the position of the sun at the moment of your birth makes you part of a Zodiac sign like Aries, Taurus, etc. Astrologers believe each sign is inclined to perceive the world and act upon it in very specific ways, overlaid with their individual predilections, genetic imperatives, and experiences. Astrology, as we see it, is a kind of psychological language. The signs add their unique flavor to the planets (the word planet is derived from the Greek word for wanderer) as they move through the narrow band of space we call the Zodiac. The sun in ones chart represents the ego; the moon, emotional intelligence; Mercury, the logical mind; Venus, that to which one is attracted; Mars, the energy available to ones ego to fulfill its goals; Jupiter, how one grows when things are going well; Saturn, how one grows when things require discipline, limits, and focus; and the outer planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto represent generational influences that both unite and separate.

This human-centered approach to astrology informs every page of Signs and Seasons. It can help us better understand ourselves as individuals, help us balance our appetites, reduce conflict and stress about food, and increase pleasure, happiness, gratitude, love for others, and awe for the mystery of creation.

Astrology has been around for thousands of years, and its popularity proves, if not its accuracy and efficacy as a predictor of human traits and even events, then at least that there must be something to this intriguing theory. Observing the order of the heavens, the corresponding seasonal order on earth, and the regularity of the biological processes of plants and animals that depend on this order, is it not logical to assume that a similar comprehensible arrangement exists within the seeming chaos of our psyches, that our inner lives, our tastes and desires, are part of a naturally regulated process? And if our personality (essentially what we like and dislike) and our behavior are tied to the astrological position of the sun, then our tastes and appetites are also somewhat predetermined by these heavenly influences.

The spirit is nourished through the senses. To truly enjoy ourselves, we must be satisfied in our thoughts, emotions, senses, and imaginings. And to gain such satisfaction, we must give everything, our bodies, our minds, our hearts, and our souls, to the pursuit. For the self-aware, if its good to you, its good for you. When the stomach is full, the mind is content; when the heart is warm and joyful, the soul can take flight.

Each Zodiac sign experiences these various needs in different measure and with different levels of intensity and urgency. We study the Zodiac to learn harmony and balance. Harmony and balance also happen to be basic principles of fine cooking and sound eating. By thinking more of this and less of that rather than this is forbidden and that is compulsory, we can revive our attitudes toward eating and cooking and toward life. As each phase of the Zodiac represents different pulls, different approaches to fulfillment are necessary.

You will soon come to understand the real reason astrology has survived as a part of daily life for over five thousand yearsand why it has so much to teach us about life in the kitchen and at the table. Astrology is inextricably tied to the cycle of the seasons, to nature at its most basic level. The origins of Western astrology are firmly rooted in the agrarian cycle of the Northern Hemisphere where it developed. Studying the movements of the heavens empowered our ancestors to track and predict the seasons, critical to their ability to grow food. In fact, it was a matter of life or death.

So our distant ancestors watched the starry night sky closely. Not only was it incomparably beautiful, it provided a fixed backdrop against which the movement of the moon, planets, and sun could be measured. Our ancestors called this belt of sky, through which the moon, planets, and sun move as they appear to circle the Earth, the Zodiac (from the Greek