2009: Year of the Pickle

The Jewish Zodiac has named 2009 "Year of the Pickle." The site is a tongue-in-cheek parody of the Chinese Zodiac that features 12 symbols based on delicious deli foods: chicken soup, egg cream, chopped liver, blintz, latke, bagel, pickle, schmear, pastrami, black&white, knish and lox.

Should we be adding a custom field to our family tree software to record this essential data? Will annual conferences see birds-of-a-feather meetings for Bagel, Lox, Blintz? Will these BOFs research the history of each yummy food?

I couldn't resist finding my sign. I'm a Bagel, my color is chocolate and learned that I'm pliable, always bounce back but feel something's missing in my center. I'm compatible with Schmear and Lox, but not that much with Latke and Knish.

"The Chinese have 'Year of the Pig' and 'Year of the Ox,'" says Jewish Zodiac creator and comedy writer Seth Front. "Being the good rabbi's son that I am, I figured we should have a zodiac of our own." Enter "Year of the Pickle" and "Year of the Lox."

The site is commercial - don't say I didn't tell you - and you can purchase T-shirts, mugs, magnets and more emblazoned with "Year of the _____."

As for The Jewish Zodiac, Front says more than anything it's about fun. "I get great joy seeing people look at the placemat and say, 'What's my sign? Oh, I'm a Blintz!' They always say 'this is fun!' And if I can bring a little humor into people's lives, well then, I'm doing my job."

Front, a screenwriter and USC Film School grad, thought up the idea in a Chinese restaurant. Nu, where else? Maybe it was also Christmas Day?

What sign are you?