In the Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food

by Stewart Lee Allen

Deliciously organized by the Seven Deadly Sins, here is a scintillating history of forbidden foods through the ages—and how these mouth-watering taboos have defined cultures around the world.

From the lusciously tempting fruit in the Garden of Eden to the divine foie gras , Stewart Lee Allen engagingly illustrates that when a pleasure as primal as eating is criminalized, there is often an astonishing tale to tell. Among the foods thought to encourage Lust, the love apple (now known as the tomato) was thought to possess demonic spirits until the nineteenth century. The Gluttony “course” invites the reader to an ancient Roman dinner party where nearly every dish served—from poppy-crusted rodents to “Trojan Pork”—was considered a crime against the state. While the vice known as Sloth introduces the sad story of “The Lazy Root” (the potato), whose popularity in Ireland led British moralists to claim that the Great Famine was God’s way of punishing the Irish for eating a food that bred degeneracy and idleness.

Filled with incredible food history and the author’s travels to many of these exotic locales, In the Devil’s Garden also features recipes like the matzo-ball stews outlawed by the Spanish Inquisition and the forbidden “chocolate champagnes” of the Aztecs. This is truly a delectable book that will be consumed by food lovers, culinary historians, amateur anthropologists, and armchair travelers alike. Bon appétit!

Genres: Food, History, Nonfiction, Food History, Microhistory, Cooking, Food and Drink

352 pages, Paperback

First published February 26, 2002

Reviews

[Margitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a totally over-the-board, tedious, killer review. My sincere apologies for that. But maybe ... maybe ... MAYBE ... someone might walk beside me through this tale. But generous yours truly will forgive you if you skip it in its entirety. You need perseverance and lots of courage for this one. And since its not a fight or flight situation, you don't need to read it.

I was wondering with whom I can share SOME OF the information in this book. I imagined the following remarks:

Neighbor: "Have you noticed the kind of books she is reading? Oh dear, the poor soul. Don't eat at her place, you know she loves to test recipes and according THIS book, there are plenty to explore!";

Old School friend: "Are you okay, girl?" (thinking: "how sad for her, after all these years. She was always so happy and bright. Sigh.")

Bon vivant, connoisseur friends: "You don't want to invite her to dinner right now. She's just read this book that might ruin our appetites ... Friendships might be tested, you know."

Daughter: "Mommmmmmm! Why don't you try chick-lit instead. Still love you! But I need to know what's for dinner, right now!!!"

So there you have it. Forewarned and foretold!!

Fasten the seat belts. Keep bicarbonate of soda handy for possible indigestion! Half a teaspoon in half a cup of water. Stir very well, and swallow quickly.;-)

REVIEW
I know one thing for sure. Adam and Eve did not have the munchies for apples, unless The Garden of Eden was in the Ukraine (allegedly the original home of apples growing in the woods). The two sinners also had to be born after apples were hybridized, and that's only a few hundred years ago. The original apple was totally inedible, according to some sources. But then again, you can regard the Adam & Eve legend as a metaphor and not fact. In this book, however, it is postulated that the original apple might have been a tomato. Who knows, right? There were no witnesses. So who wrote that story, and when, I wonder?

If you deconstruct most religious ceremonies, you wind up with a man dressed suspiciously like a chef serving some kind of snack."

Food as sins. In the Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food, states the obvious. This book is about world religions and the holy scriptures of each religion and how food fitted into the equations. Add a light, satirical, often crude mouth to tell the tale, and this book is happening. Tongue-in-cheek, challenging, outrageous, serious, too good to be true. Fact is .... there's facts in between. The facts are dished out in their multiples: dumbfounding, funny, astonishing, surprising, revolting, amazing.

The author says in the
Introduction: - ON SIN, SEX, AND FOR BIDDEN FOOD
What struck me while writing this book was the surprising extent to which people have judged, fought, and slaughtered others because of what they had for dinner. These laws about forbidden food give more than a unique perspective on history. They tell us quite a lot about the nature of pleasure and can turn the daily meal into a meditation on humanity’s relationship to the delicious and the revolting, the sacred and the profane."

For this book you need ... a strong curiosity ... and ... a strong stomach ... just to read it!

Longggg spoiler. Indulge if you like :-)

L'ortolan: Lemon-colored songbirds, bunting in English, fattened to four times their size, drowned alive in Armagnac, baked a few minutes at high. The eater: throw a traditional embroidered cloth over the head, put the whole bird, feet first, in the mouth, with the head dangling out of the mouth, bit the head off and discard, then sit back and allow the fat to slide down the throat. Allow fifteen minutes to consume the entire bird. Little songbird, a symbol of innocence is transformed to an act of gluttony symbolic of the fall from grace. Covering the head, as some regarded it, was to hide a sadistic gluttony from God. To others, in defense, it is a prayer to God."It is really like you are praying, see? Like when you take the Mass (communion wafer) into your mouth from the priest’s hand in church and you think about God. Now that is what eating l’ortolan is really most like."

Oh, and don't forget to compliment it with a glass of Bordeaux!

Preposterous? Nope. 1985. President Francois Mitterand who was so weak he fainted between courses as a result of his fatal disease, broke the rule and ate two birds. The last food he ever had before he passed away a week later. Jean-Louis Palladin, a French chef of the restaurant in the Washington Watergate Hotel, smuggled four hundred ortolans into the United States, hidden in diapers.

****
Oh Porcus, My Porcus.
Porcus Trianu(or Trojan pork, if you like):
The first thing the waiter does is trim your toenails. Then a glass of Falernian wine from a century-old Opimian vintage is served. A servant singing a poem written by your host, Trimalchio, brings out a heaping platter of cold cuts: spiced sow udders, rooster combs, winged rabbits, testicles, flamingo tongues, and ostrich brains. Finally dinner begins. Milk-fed snails the size of tennis balls served in a sweet-and-sour sauce gets things rolling, followed by an amuse-gueule of dormice, eaten whole after being dipped in honey and poppy seeds. Fish are killed à table by pouring scalding hot sauce onto them. They’re still moving as you dig in. The fowl course begins with a pastry “egg” containing a minuscule bird called beccafio, or fig-pecker, covered in raw yolk and pepper. You eat it in one mouthful, bones and all. Whole roast geese and swans are brought out, but when you take a bite, surprise! They’re made of pork.

Finally, the main course: cow-stuffed-with-lamb-stuffed-with-pig-stuffed-with-rooster-stuffed-with-chicken-stuffed-with-thrush.

Dessert comes in the form of cakes that descend from the ceiling and squirt saffron-scented juice in your face. For those guests still peckish, there are pickled rabbit fetuses to nibble while Trimalchio stages his own funeral and has his obituary, praising his good taste and generosity, read out loud.

*****



The book is organized into sections corresponding with the famous Seven Deadly Sins: lust, gluttony, pride, sloth, greed, blasphemy, and anger. Within each section are the stories of delicacies.

Each section begins with a satirical menu. For instance:

GREED MENU

APÉRITIF
Leche de Mamasita
Vodka, cream, and green ink

FIRST COURSE
Crostini de Jesus
Crisp baked wafer spread with a messianic pâté.
Sprinkling of Rindfleisch.

SECOND HELPINGS
Smoked Green Makaku
Herb-flecked loin of baboon, slow smoked over endangered tropical hardwoods.

MAIN COURSE
Fried Capitalist Pig
Deep-fried Haitian pork rind served in a bitter sauce. Garnished with eye-of-the-needle pickles.

DESSERT
Rock Candy Mountain
Served in a pool of whiskey sauce.

WE SPECIALIZE IN CATERING CORPORATE EVENTS.

*******

The book continues sin by sin to cover everything from how the first recorded image of God relates to certain taboos in Asia and the West, to how modern corporations manipulate our subliminal hunting/violent urges to make junk food more appealing. Since whom we invite for dinner can be as important as what we serve, there are stories on how these rules have played a part in events like the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Disputes between “chefs,” like the one that split Europe in half, make an appearance. There are also recipes. A plate of Joël Robuchon’s famously sensual mashed potatoes should give the flavor of the sloth-like ecstasy that led the English to try to ban the root in the 1800s. ...

...These food taboos were so important to our ancestors that they often starved to death rather than violate them, and at least half of the world’s current population—from cow-crazy Hindus to kosher Jews to young Western vegetarians—still live with severe dietary restrictions on a daily basis.

Anorexia is not a modern trend either ... Fascinating detail about the ancient 'practice' of this form of voluntary starvation. There was even a Holy Anorexia to consider...starvation fasts.

Interesting, recipes are provided. Two examples:
There are said to be eight hundred separate uses for dates in Arabic cuisine, including wine; the naturally alcoholic juice from the tree is Islam’s sole “legal” source of alcohol (it tastes a bit like peanut butter), and is so popular that the Egyptian government had to ban the cutting down of date trees.

The following recipe for Rutab Mu’ ass al (dates in saffron) comes from the classic eighth-century Baghdad cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh, as adapted in David Waines’s In a Caliph’s Kitchen. The original manuscript was written by a member of a royal family and a female slave and is Islam’s earliest culinary text.
1 pound fresh dates,
preferably Khustawi variety Blanched almonds, one per date
3 tablespoons rosewater
¼ teaspoon saffron
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons superfine sugar, plus more to cover
2 teaspoons cinnamon.

Slit and remove the stone from each date and replace with one blanched almond. Squeeze closed. Bring the rosewater, saffron, and honey to a boil and simmer for three to four minutes. Let cool and pour over the dates. Make sure every date is coated. Let them sit for a couple of hours or overnight. Mix sugar and cinnamon together. Remove dates from the syrup and roll in the sugar/cinnamon mixture (see endnotes for more elaborate recipe). Store in a cool place, covered with more sugar. Dates (frozen) are available year round but are best in the fall, when you can get them fresh.

Another recipe from our ancestors:
Ovis Apalis
While not as tasty as potbellied rats, the following recipe for eggs with pignoli sauce gives a hint of Roman hedonism. Served with honeyed wine (made by adding half a cup of heated clear honey to a bottle of white wine and chilling), it would be a fun way to start off a dinner party. The recipe is from the West’s oldest cookbook, Apicius de re Coquinaria, written by Apicius sometime in the first century.
2 ounces pine nuts
3 tablespoons vinegar, preferably red-wine vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
A pinch of pepper
A pinch of lovage (celery leaf)
4 medium boiled eggs (about four minutes)
Soak the pine nuts in the vinegar for four hours. Puree with all other ingredients (except eggs) in a blender. Serve sauce separate from eggs, and allow guests to add according to taste. The sauce will stay good for days.

Manna. Angel Food Cake, or not? The explanation is simply fascinating.
"The nature of angelic cuisine has been debated for centuries. Islamic scholar Ibn Majah said the Heavenly Host dines exclusively upon the “Glory of God,” washed down by “Proclaiming His Holiness.” Mark Twain felt certain that the heavenly food must be watermelons. The preponderance of evidence, however, suggests angels prefer toast. Psalm 78 of the Bible states that these spirits (we’re talking Judeo-Christian-Islamic here) live on “the wheat of heaven,” or manna. The former suggests bread, but manna? In the biblical language of Aramaic, manna is said to mean, “What is this?” Hardly definitive. Fortunately, the Bible contains some interesting clues, particularly in the bit where the Jews fleeing Egypt run out of grub, and, boom!, this manna stuff starts falling from the sky. Moses immediately tells everyone to grab it up because “this is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.” Everybody gathered the stuff up and baked it into something that tasted “like wafers made with honey.” It turns out there’s a mosslike lichen, Lecanora esculenta, that clings to cliffs in the Middle East. High desert winds will sometimes scatter this stuff throughout the desert until it falls like rain on Bedouin settlements. It has a naturally sweet flavor. The locals call it the “fat of the Earth” and use it to make a kind of bread that is sometimes flavored with anise and honey called Panakarpian (popular in Alexandria). Bread made from manna, the ideal food of the angels. It’s best enjoyed fresh from the oven or toasted. It also makes a nice jam.

The normally abstentious Greeks have the last word. Literally, because the longest single word in their language was a dish recorded by Aristophanes in his work Ecclesiazusae.

Now must the spindleshanks, lanky and lean,
trip to the banquet, for soon will, I wean,
high on the table be smoking a dish,
Brimming with game and with fowl and with fish.
(called) Plattero-filleto-mulelto-turboto-cranio-morselo-pickleo-acido-silphio- honeyo-poureontehtopo-ouzelo-thrusheo-cushatao-culvero-cutleto- roastingo-marrowo-dippero-leveret-syrupo-gibleto-wings
So now ye have heard these tidings true, get hold of a plate and an omelet too!

This book made many of its readers squirmish, queasy, annoyed, thrilled, mesmerized. Compared to modern culinary delights, it is not so unworldly, unthinkable or unbelievable at all.

For a current tour through our cosmopolitan cuisines, the reader might indulge in the Food channel series "Bizarre Foods of America", hosted by Andrew Zimmern. For the past decade he traveled 162 countries (and counting) and made numerous stops all over America, to tell the modern tale of culinary delicatessens.

In case you do not venture off on his exploits, here are some menu highlights:
A piece of fermented walrus anus;(Source: USAtoday.com
cuttlefish cooked in its own ink (Venus);
snail soup, whole baby pig head, rabbit paella and beef fat “bon bon" (Madrid)
Watch some of his adventures on Youtube

Stewart Lee Allen did pretty much the same for centuries gone by, by foraging through many countries, museums, ancient literature and folk tales, to compile this synopsis of our ancient kitchen adventures. Like his other book, which I LOVED, The Devil's Cup: A history of the World According to Coffee , he often wrote a travelogue while providing information on amazing culinary traditions of our ancestors.

The book is just an unbelievable experience. Stacked, packed, filled to overflowing with amazing historical facts, written in a casual, playful, chatty tone, leaving the reader often humored and smiling. But it also exposes a history of violence and barbarism.

We only have to look at our modern society, through the experiences of Andrew Zimmern, to confirm the validity of the information in this book. Stewart Lee Allen's extensive research makes up for the few factual mishaps.

For instance, the information supplied about (illegal) Absinthe:

"Absinthe was the cocaine of the fin de siècle and had as many nicknames as the White Lady herself. Opaline. Le Fée Vert. The Green Fairy. The Emerald Hell. Oscar Wilde eulogized it, Vincent van Gogh painted it, Toulouse Lautrec dedicated his liver to it. Absinthe is a 120-proof liqueur steeped with hallucinogenic herbs. Psychedelic vodka. But beautiful. One takes absinthe by suspending a sugar cube over a goblet on a special slotted spoon and then trickling water drop by drop onto the cube. As the sugar water hits the liqueur in the glass, it turns a dreamy opalescent green."(note: the author had it slightly wrong here, but correct later)

Green changed to white, emerald to opal:
Nothing has changed.
The man let the water trickle gently into his glass,
and as the green clouded, a mist fell from his mind.
Then he drank Opaline . . .
He saw blue vistas of undiscovered countries, high prospects and a
quiet caressing sea.
Green changed to white, emerald to opal;
nothing had changed.

"Written by Oscar Wilde groupie Ernest Dowson, the poem “Absinthia Taetra” gives a good picture as to why the Impressionists so loved the stuff. But everyone drank it. France went through about 36 million liters a year, and, by the late 1800s, what we now call happy hour was known as l’heure vert, “the green hour,” for the top hat–toting absintheurs who spent hours in the cafés of Paris lingering over a glass. Then habitués began to develop odd quirks. The poet Paul Verlaine, who once drank a hundred glasses in two days, set his wife’s hair ablaze. The less artistic settled for dementia and spasms. Scientists reported that a few cups transformed a puppy into a monster with “convulsed face and twisted lips covered with foam, its eyes wide open, haggard, convulsive, mad, in which one reads an impulse to kill!” Politicians labeled it madness in a bottle. “Absinthe,” wrote the newspaper Gazette de Laussane in a typical editorial from the time, “is the premier cause of bloodthirsty crimes in this country.” Then in 1905 a Swiss peasant named Jean Lanfray brutally murdered his wife and two children. He was dead drunk at the time—like many peasants, Lanfray drank up to five liters of wine a day—but the police blamed his behavior on the two glasses of absinthe he’d taken earlier that day. Three years later the Swiss outlawed the brew. Holland followed suit in 1910 and the United States in 1912. France, the world’s greatest consumer, held out until the beginning of World War I. It’s been illegal worldwide ever since."

The production of absinthe is much like that of gin: High-proof neutral spirit is infused with a blend of botanicals, including wormwood, and redistilled. Traditionally, the alcohol is infused a second time before bottling to intensify the flavor and create the signature green color. Many modern producers skip this final step and use dyes instead.

The traditional preparation is to slowly drip water over a sugar cube and into the spirit, which becomes cloudy (this is called the louche). You can also use small quantities of absinthe (a few dashes, a rinse or a quarter-ounce) to add a floral, bittersweet quality to just about any cocktail. You also need absinthe to make a proper Sazerac, a Corpse Reviver #2 and a Death in the Afternoon"(Source: liquor.com)

On a more serious note cannibalism and anti-Jewish history, which began many centuries ago, were discussed in revolting detail. While reading it I wished I did not. Some things really need not to be known. Well, that's how I felt about it. It was just too shocking. The origin of vegetarianism - the tidbit about Hitler as a vegetarian--it all appears in the book as teasers to further studies elsewhere.

Big world. Different cultures. Many beliefs. All devoted to feeding the soul, body and mind.
Some call it moral rot, but, of course, one man's rot is another man's wine Sela.

For anyone interested in food, this is an entertaining, informative, fun and often hilarious read. But there are also serious moments of deep thought. I had a super time! I also learnt a few things I wish I had not.

Worth it? YES!!!

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Some of the tidbits are interesting, but the author has a tendency to forget his premise. This isn't a history of forbidden foods in any sense, partly because there's nothing like a coherent history and partly because a huge number of the foods presented haven't ever been forbidden. You can tell he's stretching when he includes several pages about crunchy snacks in the chapter on rage, because crunching supposedly makes people aggressive? Worse, he got enough blatantly wrong that I can't trust anything he wrote that I didn't already know from other sources. No, Allen, historians do not debate whether or not Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake," because they all know damn good and well that she didn't. There are far, far better food histories out there.

[Elentarri · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rating: 1.5 stars

This is a disjointed, frivolous, supposedly humorous (it didn't work for me) book about culinary items that are (or were) the subject of taboos and laws (however vague). The book comprises of short, breezy and blithe sections of anecdotes or interesting historical facts of dubious accuracy organised according to the seven biblical sins of lust, gluttony, pride, sloth, greed, blasphemy and anger. This book might work well as a bathroom reader (read a bit here and there), as I got bored with the writing style and the contents after reading a few chapters in one sitting. A better (to me, anyway) book on food history is 'Food in History by Reay Tannahill'.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps a bit of an uneven collection, but overall I liked the book and I'm glad that I read it. Strongly suggest putting it down between each section, and picking it up a bit later. Otherwise, you're going to tire of it thinking that it should have been a magazine article instead.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book, and it didn't really meet many of them. It's more a collection of vignettes and anecdotes, loosely organized according to the Seven Deadly Sins, than an examination of foods that correspond to those sins. There are a few interesting segments, and a couple of recipes I plan to try out, but many of the connections are extremely tenuous, and seem to be simply an excuse for the author to relate some of the exotic journeys he's gone on through the years. It feels very self-indulgent, and as though he was basically looking for a framework into which to put his adventures and travels other than a mere memoir. The memoir would've probably been more interesting and cohesive, to be honest.

That said, the "menus" at the beginning of each chapter were really fun, and as I said - some of the recipes will be getting tried out. I just would've liked to see a lot more about food, rather than travelogue commentary, and more historical information.

For a work about devilish foods or forbidden foods, I'd recommend "The Devil's Picnic" over this book - that one admits that it's a gimmick book crossed with a travelogue, and so it works a lot better in context and hangs together better.

[Lisanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are not many ways you can make me very angry to the point where I start screaming at my book, but man, this one found some of those ways. I'm not even going to finish this. If you want to write about sex, please do but don't make it into a 'I've done a lot of research on food and this is all very true'-book. Just write about Spartan juice in a completely honest way, okay? If you want to write about your travels to exotic places, write a travel book. Do not combine said topics and pretend it's just about food.

Another thing: research? I can see there's a pretty extensive bibliography here, but where are the footnotes? Where are the references? A lot of these stories are just too weird or good to be true - and actually, it turns out THEY ARE LITERALLY TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE because they're more legend than fact yet the writes does not acknowledge this. A VOMITORIUM IS NOT A PLACE TO THROW UP IT'S AN EXIT OF AN AMPHITHEATRE YOU NITWIT. Give this man access to Google or you know, a Roman culture for Dummies book. Nope nope nope.

Also, I would prefer it if women are not referred to as 'sluts' and 'whores' and homosexuality is not frowned upon by the author or used to shock or as comic relief. Really, this is not necessary. This is just unacceptable.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I added this book to my Library To Read list based on an NPR piece from January 2004.

Allen uses the seven deadly sins as the structure for a discussion on foods both irresistible and forbidden, beginning with a fanciful menu for each section. Not surprisingly, the Lust chapter discusses aphrodisiacs, but it also includes a compelling case for why the apple was the Forbidden Fruit of the Bible - it boils down to Roman vs Celtic Christianity. The tomato's carnal history vs that of its humble, bland sibling the potato is also presented.

Gluttony is a natural topic when talking about food; although some of the more outré meals made me a bit queasy. Pride includes a section on corn & how it was treated as a second-class foodstuff for centuries; even my grandmother refused to eat corn on the cob, since "that's what they feed pigs". Once it was off the cob, she had no problem with it. :shrug:. Sloth includes a section on the potato; its easy cultivation in the soil of Ireland helped contribute to the stereotype of lazy Irishmen.

The section on Greed discusses cannibalism and formula vs breastmilk; while Blasphemy covers the dietary restrictions of Jews, Hindus and Muslims - and how misinterpretations of those restrictions led to hate & prejudice in medieval Europe. Capsaicin and members of the allum family are discussed in Anger; and Allen wraps up with what he calls the Eighth Sin - when everything is allowed and nothing has flavor.

An entertaining look at the history of many different foodstuffs, with just enough detail to make you feel as if you were learning something new. Allen worked hard at covering non-European cultures, including information from Central/South America, the Middle East and India; more sources and stories from the Far East might have been useful as well.

He has an extensive bibliography and notes section; but an index would be helpful. For example, I know chocolate was discussed at least once, but can't remember if it was in Lust, Pride or Gluttony. The chapter titles, while whimsical, weren't of much help.

Recommended to food lovers with an interest in odd corners of history.

[Laurie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author Allen sets out to give the history of foods as they pertain to the seven deadly sins- lust, gluttony, pride, sloth, greed, blasphemy and anger. It’s an entertaining social history of human eating habits and taboos, but that’s where I’d leave it- entertainment.

With it’s long bibliography, one would think that the book was well researched. But I had the feeling that some things were more myth than fact; when he got to a bit about absinthe, I knew he was flying blind. (He said that absinthe is clear and turns green when you pour it over sugar. He even said that he found a bottle of this clear absinthe at a friend’s house and tried to make it turn green. It didn’t, of course. In reality, it starts green and turns milky when poured over the sugar and mixed with water.) This one obvious error made me doubt a lot more of the ‘facts’ in the book. Combine that with an attitude that all cultures other than his own are pretty weird about food, and it’s a rather annoying book.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once I got past the subtitle for this book, which isn't entirely accurate, I really enjoyed it. It bothered me at first that Allen didn't really write about forbidden foods altogether. He also wrote about food that caused trouble and food that carried significant meaning for various cultural and religious groups. But then, I realized that as much as a title matters, I was already reading the book anyway, and it didn't really matter that the book strayed from it's titular guidelines.
The structure of the book, organized by the seven deadly sins, was interesting. It led Allen to discuss food such as garlic, tomatoes, bushmeat, and communion wafers in fascinating and unexpected ways. The book is very informative, offering historical, economic, cultural, and religious backgrounds for why we eat and don't eat what we eat and don't eat. There were many facts that I never heard of before and aspects of food and of eating that I never considered. I really enjoyed the final chapter, a summation of the information offered, in which Allen reflects on why food taboos have mostly faded and what this means for our lives and our manners and values.
Allen's tone is fun and easy to follow. Sometimes, he's irreverent, but this is a secular book, and he treats all religions in the same way, sort of poking fun at their taboos and customs, sort of trying to understand them. He discusses Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam in the same way, although he discusses Christianity and Judaism the most, probably because those are the biggest religious influences on the West. Although he does discuss Eastern cultures, his focus is on European and American food interests. If I had one beef with Allen's tone it's that it does verge on disrespectful at times.
Overall, this is an enlightening, funny, and entertaining book. I would definitely recommend it to readers interested in learning more about food, culture, and how the two are inseparable from each other and from our psyches.

[Lydia]

This is an interesting read about different forbidden foods throughout history, which bases its structure on the seven deadly sins. It's entertaining and sensuously written.

There are a number of factual inaccuracies however, despite what looks like a fairly extensive bibliography (a "vomitorium" is not a room where Romans went to throw-up their food at the end of a meal so that they could eat more... a basic google search tells you that this is a common misconception. I mean... how did this get past the editing process??!?). After noticing a few blatant falsities being paraded as truth, I decided that I couldn't actuallly trust anything that this book told me. Which is a bit of a shame considering it's meant to be non-fiction.

It is an entertaining read though. Well-written and it had some pretty unusual and fun recipes dotted throughout.

[Beth Ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

While there are some interesting tidbits to be gleaned from this book, the author plays fast and loose with the truth at times. (Not really something you want in a history book. ) I'm honestly really surprised that this book made it through the publishing process. It's not hard to figure out that the author is really tying together various facts with his own thoughts and conjecture. Some more ridiculous than others. A reader can be fooled by the fact that the author supplies endnotes and a lengthy bibliography, however, on closer examination the endnotes aren't really what they seem. They remain just another place for the author to opine. This is one of the most disappointing historical books I've ever read.

[Salma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The structure of the book is quite messy, but anyone can tell that considerable research went into it. I learned so much - I particularly enjoyed learning about the dispute over bread that tore Christian Europe. At mass, the orthodox church favoured serving a well-risen, chewy Son of God (representing the life force of Christ), and the catholic church preferred a cracker-like, unleavened treat (which Jesus had distributed during the last supper but which the orthodox side found lifeless). This drama seems to have begun in a petty correspondence between Michael Cerularius (from the Orthodox side) and the Catholics’ Cardinal Humbert in A.D. 1054. Allen writes that the two churches finally made up in 1965!!

[Debi Cates · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a belly full of this book.

Page 163 is when I finished with this book. Author wrote about being on a barge in the Congo where stowaways were hung by their wrists and whipped below deck. But even more appalling was his description of the crew smoking monkeys...alive. It turned my stomach and at that moment decided I had reached my limit of exposure to the cruelties recounted in this book.

It started off interesting enough: which fruits have been considered the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, how the tomato was once considered poisonous by Europeans, the strange eating habits of Christian female saints, how cultures denigrate one another's food choices, and so on.

However, he includes no footnotes.* I noticed he included rumors and low quality quotes. Nor could I find any biographical information supporting his expertise. So before I myself would share any tidbits I found interesting, I will at least Google it first.

I spot-read around beyond infamous page 163, and made note of this as an example of what I could continue to expect: on page 234 he wrote about the strictest vegetarians (he definitely is a meat-eater himself), the followers of Janism. He lists seeded fruits and vegetables that are forbidden to them, "...and almost every other food that makes the vegetarian's life occasionally bearable."

Yep, he insulted Jainists, Vegetarians, and Vegans, in one remark. I'm a 5 year Vegan and, along with millions of non-meat-eaters around the world, I have learned how to cook and enjoy the tastiest food I've ever eaten in my life. My food life is way beyond "occasionally bearable."

I write this review (and marking it as read) because the premise is interesting, enticing even, for potential readers like myself. However, it includes multiple instances of extreme cruelty, the kind of thing once you know, you can't un-know.

I'd call Allen's book a loose entertainment, perhaps part memoir, rather than a studied history. It's a disappointing treatment of a fascinating subject. Fair warning!


*There are endnotes. They are not citations of sources but rather continuation of information along the main text's line.

[Mariele · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was very much looking forward to reading this book. It has a fascinating premise, and I really enjoyed the first chapter. I am so into this history / mystery topic. In scope and theme, this could have been the doctoral thesis I never wrote – had I majored in cultural studies, that is.

The first time I stumbled was in the third chapter, when the author tells his readers that it was the Cherokee who were massacred at Wounded Knee in 1890. I’m sorry, but no. Just no.

This was the point where I stopped trusting any of the information the book contains. Other readers have pointed out other mistakes that I would not have noticed, such as the meaning of vomitoria in Roman theatres.

Hence, the research is poor and untrustworthy, and it is given in a way which remains jokey and unmemorable. Despite its impressive 20 pages bibliography, the writer presents his research in a very non-academic conversational tone. This could be an interesting starting point, yet unfortunately, Mr Allen flits from topic to topic without ever sincerely delving into his subject matter. More often than not, he merely showcases his own travel adventures. Therefore, the boundaries between fact, fiction and conjecture often blur.

I can’t say much about the language because I read it in a translation. However, even the translation was riddled with mistakes.

This is lazy, opiniated writing which makes for a very disappointing read. I don't know how any discerning publishing house would wave this through.



PS: Wer den Unterschied zwischen “ordinary“ und „ordinär“ nicht kennt, sollte nicht als Übersetzer arbeiten.

[Mackenzie Cole · Rating 1 out of 5]

An intensely frustrating book because it is full of interesting tidbits of information but the author apparently believes the best way to tell a story is to distill it to the most over-simplified and sensationalized version possible, with little regard for nuance or accuracy.

(I had to reread the sentence where he claims that people in China eat Tibetan Lamas four times before I fully processed it. Either this is a badly worded political comment or the author has confused Lamas - Tibetan Buddhist priests - with llamas - South American camelids - because I am quite sure that such cannibalism would be international news if it were actually occurring. Also worthy of note is the regurgitation (pun fully intended) of the obnoxious myth of the ancient Roman vomitorium, which in reality had nothing to do with vomit at all and historians have known this for years.)

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book combines three of my favorite reading topics: history, theology, and food. Totally impressed with Allen's anthropological approach and keen eye to historical detail regarding the dialogue between people and their relationship with food over the ages. Highlights for me include: 1 - Garden of Eden, was it an apple or a tomato? 2 - Pythagoras, the world's first intellectual vegetarian! 3 - How the link between aggression and eating in our brains leads potato chip manufacturers to making extra crispy, crunchy chips/crisps.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Interesting concept, and the writing style fit nicely with the subject matter. The prose is sensual, almost lurid at times. The red of a sinful tomoato is described as "slut-red;" no one ever just "cuts" with a knife, when they can thrust it into something. I kind of felt like I needed a cigarette after reading a couple of these sections. I'm not sure I loved this way this is arranged according to the seven deadly sins--clever idea, but a little haphazard.

[Viktoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

While at times sacrificing compete and full accuracy for a more engaging narrative, this is an interesting book. The author chose to make it an easy read, rather then an academic tome. It has cuisine and culture from six continents, rather then just a eurocentric approach. I cannot speak to the recipes, as I did not try any, but they looked tasty. For once, I recommend reading the endnotes, as they are as witty as the rest of the book.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had a few interesting stories, but on the whole seemed poorly researched and fact-checked. The author takes a "who knows" attitude to a lot of well-known facts and makes insultingly sweeping generalizations, assumptions, and ethnocentric statements. Also, the editor should be horsewhipped for letting so many misused words slip through.

[Pancha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light, humorous look at some of the foods we've considered sinful. Some of the entries seem to barely fit in the category they are placed in, and some of the entries are barely food. His concept of vegetarians is pretty limited and as the title implies, the book has a very Judeo-Christian-Islamic spin (although other religions do make an appearance). But overall, it was interesting to read.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

#Binge Reviewing My Previous Reads #Culinary History

In the Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food by Stewart Lee Allen is a banquet served straight out of Pandora’s lunchbox—every chapter a provocation, every morsel laced with taboo. If Bee Wilson maps the utensils of civilization, Allen gleefully plunges us into the forbidden fruits, the foods that societies feared, banned, eroticized, or elevated into sin.

The book dances across centuries and continents, showing us how what we eat has never been merely about nourishment but about morality, control, and desire. Aphrodisiacs, hallucinogens, cannibal feasts, the blurring of sacred and profane—all these occupy Allen’s table. The prose is cheeky and irreverent, yet grounded in a curious historian’s eye. He reminds us that food taboos are never arbitrary: pork in one faith, beef in another, and chocolate once whispered about as dangerous for women’s virtue. Every prohibition conceals a cultural fear, and every indulgence exposes a collective longing.

What makes the book irresistible is its moral mischief. Instead of lamenting restrictions, Allen revels in them, pulling us into a world where food is weapon, seduction, sacrament, and scandal. Reading it, one realizes how “taste” is always more than tongue—it’s politics, power, even paranoia. The forbidden kitchen is simply another theatre where societies act out their anxieties.

This isn’t food history in the comforting, nostalgic mode. It is food history as transgression, forcing us to confront how desire and danger have always been served on the same plate. In the Devil’s Garden lingers like an aftertaste you shouldn’t enjoy but secretly do, a reminder that sin, like spice, is what makes the meal unforgettable.

[Tittirossa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brillante e superanedottico. Pure troppo.
Alla fine ti vien voglia di leggere Camporesi e Montanari per qualche "storia di cibo" quadrata e storiograficamente ineccepibile. Non che Allen non sembri ricco di sapere e conoscenza, ma questo sfoggio di brillantezza alla fin fine risulta indigesto, si pilucca, si spizzica, un assaggino qui uno la, un po' di finger food e poi ci si rende conto che l'apericena sembra sempre così promettente, e ricca e "mammamia c'è anche la mortadella vegana e gli spiedini di scorpioni" poi torni a casa e a mezzanotte svuoti il frigorifero strafogandoti di ciccioli e maionese.

[David Szatkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is fun, the recipes are interesting. However, at times the author uses a bit too much (for my taste, pun intended) of hyperbole. Also at least in Catholic theology and history, he does not really hit the mark (which makes me wonder about his other theological statements). While I sympathize with trying to keep the book humorous and readable, some of the mistakes are rather glaring if you're more conversant with the topic. That said, it is a fun read, great for summer or beach, it also when read in the context of other books of the history of food, gives some colorful insights into what we eat as a species and how we relate to food.

[Nat · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNFd early on. The language is so crude, it's grossing me out, particularly when the author talks about women (aka "whores, harlot-princess-sluty or dominatrix bitches").
There are no footnotes or endnotes and as other reviewers have said, some things are either badly researched or just plain wrong.
Also, this isn't a history of forbidden food as much as it is a chance for the author to talk about his journeys and life and ideas and whatnot. The fact some food were in fact forbidden is sometimes sprinkled throughout but rarely dwelled upon.
Badly written, terribly researched and not at all what you'd expect from the title. Yuck.

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really interesting and provided some fascinating historical and religious context for some famously forbidden foods. I did find however that the tone was almost too lyrical at times, and made it somewhat difficult to follow some of the arguments he was making. I would find myself asking if he was just speculating or basing off of fact and then there would be an indicator at the end of the paragraph that it was fact, but it was a little jarring. Basically, the reading sometimes wasn't smooth enough, exactly? Hard to describe what I mean. Definitely an engaging and informative book though.

[John Varner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really entertaining, to the point that I read it in one sitting, with a lot of interesting stories from history, but a number of the theories presented here seem like kind of a stretch and there are enough factual mistakes in the stories I was already familiar with to make me take the other stories presented here with a major grain of salt. Definitely still worth reading if you're interested in food, culture, taboos, history, or any intersection of those topics. A few interesting sounding recipes were included too.

[Liz Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book!

I love that it was arranged around the seven deadly sins and each was explored in depth and in very unexpected ways. The way each chapter started, with a menu, was brilliant and hilarious.

However, I did find myself questioning the veracity of some of the facts. Given the age of the book I can’t help but wonder if some of these facts have changed (and that’s why I’m questioning them), or if they’re just being presented in such a manner that seems too over the top.

Regardless, this was a quick and fun read.

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

*BC, 0-499, 500-999, 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800-1849, 1850-1899, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2020, The Future

Reasonably interesting, and very convenient for timeline purposes. A little sensationalised with the deadly-sins structure.

[Nicole Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read, well-researched and humorous. The chapter on cannibalism was a little hard to take, but I managed (ewww). Allen's writing is engaging and entertaining: I didn't read this all in one sitting, but I did finish it in a day. I'm going to keep an eye out for more of Stewart Lee Allen's work.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a little dated now, and some of the references really show its age, but it was an interesting and informative look at why food has been forbidden. It's written in a style that's easy to read, but sometimes I felt like the author got caught up in his own cleverness with words and allusions. And occasionally he does just infer things, but you have to check the endnotes to have him admit it.