Deck Review: Gourmet Tarot

One of the most recent additions to my collection is this little cutie, the Gourmet Tarot by Scribalist (with illustrations by in-house artist Gumeaw). I got it via backing the Kickstarter campaign, but you can pick it up for £45 via Tevada or £54 via Etsy. The deck aims to “blend… the timeless wisdom of Tarot readings with the universal language of food“, and I was immediately struck by the really thoughtful matching of traditional Tarot symbolism with foods from around the world. There’s definitely a South East Asian vibe to a lot of the foodstuffs (the creators are based in Bangkok), but with classical dishes from Italy to Mexico to India, the deck as a whole is super multicultural.

Food has always been more than just sustenance; it is a source of comfort, pleasure, and inspiration.

Scribalist

The 79 card deck (more on the bonus card later) comes in a sturdy lid-bottom box. A tiny and quite personal quibble – there’s no writing or illustrations on the side of the box – it’s just plain creamy beige. As I display my Tarot decks on shelves in my office, it’s always a bit annoying when there’s nothing to identify them sideways on! The guidebook is brief, but helpful if you’re having trouble figuring out what the pictured foodstuff has to do with the card’s message (which is bound to happen when you have such a truly pan-global deck. I think of myself as a foodie, but even I learnt some cool new facts about worldwide cuisine). The cards have gold foil edging – it’s the shiny stuff, which looks lovely now, but I know it’ll probably chip quite badly over time if I use the deck a lot. The back design looks like a gingham tablecloth in an old Italian trattoria – very cute.

The art style is slightly cartoony and really eye-catching – it reminds me of graphic novels, which makes sense as it *looks* to me (from their Facebook page) like the artist draws a lot of Animesque-type figures. This gives the whole deck a friendly, cheerful kind of vibe. I think it would be great for reading for strangers (especially at a food-based event) as it’s very warm and approachable. And here’s the bonus card, as promised – a Fortune Cookie! Normally I’m not the biggest fan of bonus cards, as I think the Tarot is designed to be a complete, holistic system and is therefore pretty perfect as is, but even my traditionalist old heart finds this one pretty endearing.

Here are some of my favourite cards from the Gourmet Tarot. The Fool is, obviously, an egg, and I think The Fool kinda has to be an egg in a food-based deck? It’s just so on the nose it would feel wrong to pick anything else! The egg is the perfect representation of new beginnings, creation, the start of a journey; as well as innocence, and, yes, foolishness. The unbroken oval of the egg also mirrors the number ‘0’, and Rachel Pollack points out that the number zero is like an egg, full of life, getting ready to hatch. Ebeggin describes The Fool as “the Zero, the cosmic egg from which anything and everything can hatch”.

I love The Magician as a stew, taking relatively plain ingredients and turning them into something delicious via the power of culinary alchemy. The chef being present in this drawing (which is rare for the deck, normally human figures are absent) reminds us that this isn’t ‘magic’ though – rather it’s the chef’s skills and hard work – even if he makes it look effortless.

When I first saw The Hierophant card I was like: wtf does The Hierophant have to do with lasagne? until I read the guidebook: “The Hierophant is depicted by a comforting and classic dish of lasagne, symbolising the importance of tradition, structure, and the passing down of knowledge through layers of generations“. Clever!

Both the Wheel of Fortune and The Hanged Man as, respectively, a sushi-go-round and smoked fish, are really smart and drôle. The guidebook points out that hanging smoked foods represent the “need to let go and surrender to the natural process of transformation“. Death is represented by this (really striking) bowl of rice. A bowl of boiled rice (with upright chopsticks) is often placed at the foot of a dead person in many Asian cultures as a final meal to set them up for their journey to the afterlife.

The 8 of Pentacles is represented by momos (incidentally, one of my favourite foods 😋), as these delicious little dumplings require a lot of skill and attention to detail to create (have made some from scratch, can confirm!) I love the Ten of Pents as caviar, as this is such a classic ‘old money’ type food. And the King of Pents is a charcuterie board “overflowing with an assortment of cured meats, cheeses, fruits, and nuts, showing the King’s prosperity and success“.

I really like the traditional flaming baton from the Ace of Wands re-imagined as a firey kebab, and the Five of Wands as a free-for-all fondue party. The LWB explains, “[the] fondue pot [is] surrounded by various foods on sticks, symbolising the chaotic and competitive nature of trying to dip and enjoy the fondue“. Then for the Nine of Wands we have a handful of soggy french fries making their last stand.

The Ace of Swords is depicted by a single olive pierced by a sharp metal skewer. Associated with the goddess Athena, as well as the patron of human culture, Aristaeus, Greek Mythology considered the olive to be a sacred symbol of wisdom. The guidebook explains that “an olive on a metal skewer symbolises the clarity and precision of thought required to achieve break-throughs“.

I love the crossed knives and the competing jam and marmalade options for the Two of Swords. The King of Swords is shown here as shaved ice: “sometimes the king is [so] logical that he is viewed as being cold“.

You can buy the deck here, and I think it’s well worth it, particularly for the foodies amongst you!

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