Edible Arcana

March 1st, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink

tin can without label

Unfortunately, I missed it, but the Psychic Cooking Show by David Frankovich, part of the One on One series at Toronto’s Rhubarb Festival last month, sounds like it was fantastic!

I’ve written before about divination with food. There was the tortilla reading with Jorge Rojas, and more recently Jemima Packington reading asparagus.

But Frankovich has his own technique, and it’s directly connected to the Tarot. He creates his deck out of canned goods, selecting each item for its correspondence to a Major Arcana card.

For instance, in one performance, he chose baked beans to represent Death, a nod I’m guessing to the putrification process inherent in transformation.

After making all his selections, he removes the labels from the 22 cans so that no one knows what’s inside.

Then as in any Tarot reading, he asks his querant to choose their cans. He opens them up, reads them as you might cards, then cooks up a meal using those particular ingredients.

It’s a brilliant idea, combining the rituals of reading with eating.

By ingesting your reading, you’re literally taking it in, making it physically part of you, not just something you see or hear.

All the senses are involved. You see it, hear it be described and can listen to it cook. You smell it, touch it with you mouth, and taste it. It’s like the Empress herself is reading for you.

I know Frankovich meant this as a performance piece, but I wish he’d offer his readings to the general public. I’d love to get one. And it’s always a pleasure to have someone cook for me.

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