What do the stars tell you about your favorite Filipino food?
A series of art posts highlighting Filipino food and Zodiac signs were created by Joanne Boston of @jbkollaborations and myself back in 2020. Each sign of the Zodiac, from Aries to Virgo, was assigned a Filipino dish.
Lechon, with its crispy golden skin, was chosen for the Leo’s (Jul 23 – Aug 22), whose element is fire and spirit color is gold, according to Horoscope.com.
Libras (Sep 23 – Oct 22) who love Pancit are in luck, as the dish associated with long life by Filipinos was assigned the Libra zodiac.
The connections were based on a short survey Jo conducted for fun with her Instagram following. She then sent the results to me to create artwork using cute Filipino food characters, and together we finished this Filipino Food Zodiac.
There are many memes and social media posts of Zodiac signs assigned to different dishes from sandwiches to pizza. The zodiac itself is a set of characters assigned to the stars.
The Chinese Zodiac is connected to various animals like the Rooster or Goat, and was based on the Chinese lunar calendar over 2,000 years ago! The reason why Filipinos view pansit as a symbol of long life is because of a Chinese tradition: the consumption of noodles every Chinese new year, which is based on the lunar calendar.
The western Zodiac we know today has roots with the Babylonians. According to NASA, the Babylonians looked up at the stars and assigned names to the constellations which were passed by the sun every year. This tradition lived on, and eventually the Greek word zôion meaning “animal” gave way to the word we use today, Zodiac (and “zoo”!)
The next time you celebrate your birthday (or look up your horoscope for the week), be sure to find your own inner Filipino dish. Don’t forget to share.
May your stars be aligned, and be forever in your flavor.
Get your Filipino Food Zodiac sign
- Get details on each sign from Jo’s website here.
- Get artprints of your Filipino Food Zodiac on Society6, or get a downloadable hi-res printable of all the Filipino Food Zodiac signs on Etsy.
- See more Filipino Food Art by me on my main page here.