As an enthusiastic home cook I love the idea of somehow incorporating the astrological and the magical into cooking. With the Yule/Christmas festive season now having come to a close for most, my thoughts turn to other less obvious themed meals. With both Capricorn and Aquarius having Saturn traditionally ruling over both of them, one begins to wonder what a Saturnian themed meal might look like.
In keeping with Saturn’s association with restriction/boundaries and such, it comes as no surprise to find relatively few foods under its rulership relative to the other planets. I’m not sure how appealing a meal centred around beetroot, quince, tamarind and vinegar would be, if keeping strictly to the very limited list of edibles that came up in lists of astrological food correspondences. I’m not going to attempt to suggest any Saturnian menus, although given time could probably come up with something and would certainly put some of these ideas into practice if there were any takers around with a suitable eating and cooking venue for a Saturnian feast.
Outside of the rather limited choice of foods mentioned above, the addition of astringent and bitter foods/drinks could be considered within the Saturnian spirit of things. How about Angostura bitters, Campari, Cynar and Gammel Dansk shots scattered around the black clothed table, served in black glass? Naturally, there would be black candles and any suitable food served on black plates with black serviettes. Sumach spice mix would be the choice of the evening to accompany spinach and endive dishes. Peacock might be a trifle problematic to obtain, even though I have recipes for its preparation, but some sources list ostrich as ruled by Saturn, so that might be a non vegetarian candidate. Maybe some Phillip Glass minimalistic background music would not be inappropriate.
Squid ink pasta,spinach,black olives along with dark lentils despite their mercurial associations have their Saturnine qualities according to Al Birundi. Thanks to Culpepper, we can even include barley, so could maybe drown our Saturnian sorrows in barley beer with some cranberries and assorted pickles watching the flickering of the black candles on a Saturday night, starting or finishing during the hour of Saturn.