Product Description

From the internationally acclaimed author Isabel Allende, comes a magical, fascinating book exploring the intimate relationship between food and sex. This book of recipes, sensuous stories, aphrodisiacs and lovers' spells is an irresistible fusion of Allende's favourite things. Lavishly illustrated, this fascinating, personal guide to all things erotic encompasses a multicultural history of seduction through food, ancient and modern stories and poems about sex and eating, titillating recipes and advice. Chapter titles include: Cooking in the Nude; The Spell of Smell; Death by Perfume; Table Manners; With the Tip of the Tongue; The Orgy; Sins of the Flesh; Love Potions, and Sauces and Other Essential Fluids.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #101083 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
There is something about reading suggestive material that awakens the senses--too often ignored in the fray of modern life--and fires the imagination. Perhaps it brings us back to those breathless, palpitating moments from childhood when puberty was a rosy smudge on the horizon and sex was an abstract term. Aphrodite is a long, savoury, enthralling ode to sensuality.

In this bawdy memoir-cum-cookbook, Allende has put together an apothecary of aphrodisiacs, from snake's blood and rhinoceros horn to the more commonplace and more palatable oysters, "those seductive tears of the sea, which lend themselves to slipping from mouth to mouth like a prolonged kiss ... can be purchased in bottles, but there they look like malignant tumours; in contrast, moist and turgid in their shells they suggest delicate vulvae--a prime example of food that appeals to the eye." Chapters such as "Alligators and Piranhas"; "Supreme Stimulus for Lechery"; "Bread, God's Grace"; "Forbidden Fruits"; and "The Saucy Way to Foreplay" offer categorical listings on the aphrodisiac qualities of meats, spices, fruits and vegetables, and alcohol. A few chapters into the book, one begins to wonder what foods aren't considered erotic: "the shape of the wheat head is considered phallic, which proves human imagination knows no limits." Wine (no surprise there) is recommended because "it lessens inhibitions, relaxes, and fosters joy, three fundamental requirements for good performance, not only in bed but at the piano as well." However, as in many situations, moderation is key: too much and you may find your guest asleep in the soup.

Allende dismisses nouvelle cuisine in favour of earthier foods and more satisfying portions. More than 100 recipes are provided, from sauces and soups to hors d'oeuvres, supplemented with her voluptuous commentary. Recipes such as Mykonos Sauce, with walnuts, pistachios, basil, garlic, and milk; Widower's Figs; Filet Mignon Belle Epoque; and Alicante Cream Soup, with leeks, shrimp, oysters, paprika, and cream will have you in an apron (and perhaps not much else) in no time.

"If cookbooks make up part of your library," Allende notes, "books on eroticism should, too." And what more delightful combination of the two than Aphrodite, which provocatively underscores the relationship between sustenance and sexuality, and the aphrodisiac qualities of watching a man cook: "[Women] suppose that if he can remember how many minutes frog legs can tolerate in the skillet, how much greater reason he will have to remember how many tickles our G spot demands." Spiced with litanies of lust and longing from Anais Nin, W.B. Yeats, Pablo Neruda, and Lady Onogoro, and enriched with Allende's warm humour and lusty joie de vive, Aphrodite will tantalise your senses and engender lascivious grins. Recommended in delicious but moderate doses, this book is not for the faint of ... er, heart. - -Jhana Bach, Amazon.com

Review
'Just as the pleasures of eating can replace the pleasures of sex, so reading about food can provoke as much satisfaction as flicking through some soft porn. Isabel Allende's charming new book aims to reconcile the two appetites, offering sensual recipes to tempt jaded palates!Not a pot-boiler; rather, a spicy word-salad!Telling stories, playing verbal games and flirting with words like shuttlecocks, these are the real turn-on for Allende. In between offering up light, well-flavoured reminiscences sauced with humour she imparts a certain amount of kitchen lore and suggests new ways to make roast chicken romantic. A delightful book, juicy with affectionately prepared vignettes that turn out well every time like an expert chef's souffles.' Michele Roberts, The Times 'In her splendid, succulent and disconcerting study of erotology and foodstuffs![Allende's] focus is upon pleasure!a spellbinding work, and!insistently practical.' Daily Telegraph 'The angels who inhabit Allende's previous books here turn into alluring aromas, mystifying the air!She transports us into an altogether more agreeable place; a paradise of language.' Observer 'A book to treasure and savour.' Independent on Sunday 'A paean to living.' Scotland on Sunday

From the Publisher
excerpts from the British press reviews:
‘Isabel Allende's wonderfully sexy new book, is a marvellous concoction, for dipping into or for digesting in great chunks… Enjoy it.’ Marie Claire

‘A paean to living’ ROS DAVIDSON, Scotland on Sunday

‘Just as the pleasures of eating can replace the pleasures of sex, so reading about food can provoke as much satisfaction as flicking through some soft porn. Isabel Allende’s charming new book aims to reconcile the two appetites, offering sensual recipes to tempt jaded palates. Not a pot-boiler; rather, a spicy word-salad... a delightful book, juicy with affectionately prepared vignettes that turn out well every time like an expert chef’s soufflés.’ MICHÈLE ROBERTS, The Times

‘Both splendid and disconcerting…In her succulent study of erotology and foodstuffs, whether the spirited Chilean novelist Isabel Allende is breakfasting on sea snake or describing a vibrator that plays Viennese waltzes, her focus is upon pleasure rather than fertility. Aphrodite is a spellbinding work, and is insistently practical: many of the recipes have been tested on volunteers... Quoting writers from Catullus to Neruda, the text is partly anthological, with much detail of musk, cinnamon and sea urchin… tempered with humour. There are digressions on shellfish, the language of flowers and sultanic seraglios. The recipes themselves include an Easter Island stew cooked deep within the beach (lepers are served first), a Reconciliation Soup (the author’s own brew, for when things go wrong), plus Adam’s Nuts, Beef Stock, Widower’s Figs, a mousse called Artichoke Whisper and – to round it off – the precise way to make Catherine the Great’s breakfast omelette ("Spoon on the caviar, and beside this triumph place the sour cream and warm toast"). Pardon me while my teeth grab another leg from the kitchen table.’ DAVID PROFUMO, Daily Telegraph

‘The angels who inhabit Allende’s previous books here turn into alluring aromas, mystifying the air. The spirits she worships are never actual spectral presences; but metaphors, and the metaphor’s magical purpose is to entrap in words a feeling which remains invisible, averse to dull articulation. The most lubricious oral pleasure in Aphrodite is that afforded by language, goading our saliva glands to squirt at her description of entirely notional meals, she transports us to an altogether more agreeable place; a paradise of language.’ PETER CONRAD, Observer

‘A book to treasure and savour.’ DIONA GREGORY, Independent on Sunday

Customer Reviews

A feast for the senses
Food, Sex, Isabel Allende, if you love any or all of the above then this is a must have! From the first page the author welcomes you in like an old friend, she then leads you thru. history, literature and her personal loves and life and leaves you feeling titilated and hungrey for more! Keep it in the kitchen or by your bed but definatly have it within easy reach!

Pure aphrodisiac material
One word simply describes Aliende's latest : Aphrodisiac. This is not only in reference to the recipes of the book but also to the way she writes .Her stories of her life , the myth are all belnd marvelously put together and the result is a bible of what Aliende calls "The love of food and the food of love". Definetely for those who see food as more that a biological need.