December 24, 2001
"When I pluck a few leaves for my tagliatelle, I make sure to scream obscenities at its fuzzy little head just like the Italians used to." Unaware of basil's complicated past, some cooks might use the herb with carefree abandon, but Allen, author of The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee, knows better. When it arrived in Europe from India around the fourth century B.C., basil came wrapped in a tale of fatal passion, which eventually morphed into the belief that a person who smelled the herb would go mad and curse up a storm. Allen's conceit is to take dozens of such tales and categorize them as one of the seven deadly sins: the section on "Lust," for instance, looks at the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden; the section on "Sloth" covers the potato and its supposed tendency to turn the Irish into lazy fornicators; the section on "Blasphemy" recounts how 16th-century Catholic priests roamed the streets of Madrid sniffing for Jewish cookery. While the historical and cultural links between food, sex and religion make for fascinating reading, Allen's structure is forced at times: it is difficult to understand why Allen places France's obsession with bread and class in the section on "Sloth." The book's tone—flip and entertaining—seems geared to the casual foodie, but its breeziness is often frustrating: Allen devotes only three pages, for example, to the potent trio of food, lust and homosexuality. Cooks may find Allen's unusual assortment of recipes from around the world—as well as his recommendation on where to find the world's best potatoes (and it's not Idaho)—to be the best part of the book.
February 1, 2002
Using the seven deadly sins as a framework, Allen (The Devil's Cup: Coffee, the Driving Force in History) explores a plethora of foods that have been shunned throughout the centuries and banned by cultures around the world. After opening each chapter with a menu featuring dishes "appropriate" for that particular sin, the author serves up the various reasons why such foods as tomatoes, chocolate, and potatoes have been feared, scorned, or restricted. Allen adeptly draws from a range of disciplines, including biology, sociology, history, religion, anthropology, and literature, for examples to illuminate the individual food tales. Readers will devour his writing, which is infused with a wickedly subtle sense of wit. A brief selection of historical recipes adapted for the modern-day cook and the occasional personal travel tale from the author are mixed among the book's many entertaining stories. Perfect for public libraries. John Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZ
Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
February 1, 2002
Different cultures and religions have defined certain foods as taboo over the centuries. Allen examines these taboos and looks for possible explanations for forbidding some otherwise edible foodstuffs from human consumption. Organizing these wanton comestibles under each of the seven deadly sins, he associates proscribed foods with behaviors that people have sought to suppress in themselves and in others. The curious history of the now-ubiquitous tomato is just one case in point. Brought back to the Old World from the New, it quickly became identified as the original sinful fruit from Eden and was dubbed the "love apple." The tomato plant also resembled the feared mandrake, often used in divination. Its use in sauces further enraged the pious since sauces were deemed sumptuary and caused food to be too much enjoyed. Chocolate suffered from its association with Aztec human sacrifice and from the overfondness for it of characters such as the Marquis de Sade. Allen also explores some of the few remaining eating taboos, including humans' best friend and humans themselves.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)