Novelist Isabel Allende (The House of the Spirits, Eva Luna) cannot separate eroticism from food. She calls this beautifully designed book "a mapless journey through the regions of sensual memory, in which the boundaries between love and appetite are so diffuse that at times they evaporate completely."
Although she is happily married, the author is a believer in daring games, massages, and erotic literature and art as catalysts for amorous ardor. With cross-cultural sweep and great panache, Allende salutes pleasure as a dance in which all the senses come alive.
To enhance our appreciation of the link between sex and food, the author includes various recipes by Panchita Llona and lists of the aphrodisiacal qualities of herbs and spices, meats, seafoods, fruits, vegetables, and liquors. The playful spirit of Aphrodite comes across vividly. And the drawings by Robert Shekter of nymphs, satyrs, and other mythological creatures are delightful.