What's Your Food Sign?

Wed., March 22, 5-10 p.m., Liberties, 705 N. Second St., 215-238-0660

From Cleopatra's grape fetish to George Costanza's pastrami sandwiches, food and sex are historically congenial. So it seems only natural that Dr. Alan Hirsch, founder of the Smell and Taste Research Foundation and author of What's Your Food Sign?: How to Use Food Clues to Find True Love, began studying couples' romantic compatibility based on the foods they eat.

"Why do we bother to eat some foods over others?" asks Hirsch. "Because we like the way it tastes—but it also exposes our true personalities to each other."

Over the past 20 years, Hirsch and his colleagues have studied the personalities and food preferences of more than 18,000 couples to determine how their choices can predict compatibility. Next Wednesday, Hirsch will lead a dinner and discussion at Liberties restaurant, where he'll apply his findings to the folks in attendance.

Since this is Philly, we asked Hirsch if he had any compatibility input for all of us cheesesteak eaters. Although he was unfamiliar with cheesesteaks, he did say beef eaters tended to enjoy solitary activities and were generally not risk-takers. Translation: Get used to being single.

Now how about scrapple?