THE LOVE OF FOOD & THE FOOD OF LOVE.

Bottom front edge somewhat bumped. 315pp plus 2pp credits plus 1p ads; col illus in text. From p 200 onwards are colour-coded recipes by Panchita with commentaries by I A. Unmarked, no annotations or inscriptions.

In her splendid, succulent and disconcerting study of erotology and foodstuffs, whether Isable Allende is breakfasting on sea snake of 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 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. Pardon me while my teeth grab another leg from the kitchen table. David Profumo, Daily Telegraph.