The Sex Life of Food: When Body and Soul Meet to Eat

by Bunny Crumpacker

Food and sex. Hunger and the psyche. These are the forces that shape our lives.

"The sex life of food" doesn't mean that the strawberries have fallen in love with the oatmeal. It's a look at food―and sex―and how they go together in our daily lives much more often than we realize.

There are so many ways that hunger and desire act on each other, and so many things that can influence our preferences. Not only are people moved by the taste, texture, and the shapes of the food they eat, but even the names of some dishes can kindle hunger―of both kinds―in some. As the author writes, "Sometimes cooking is foreplay, eating is making love, and doing the dishes is the morning after."

Bunny Crumpacker has looked at food from every angle, and brings us delicious stories about what others have done and said about eating--and about making love. She has gone far beyond the obvious to bring us unexpected and tantalizing knowledge of how much and in how many surprising ways we assuage our hunger for both food and sex, and how where there's one, there is often the other. The result is a book you can go back to again and again and keep finding more delights--including uncharacteristic comments from the famous and insightful chuckles from the author herself. There's history and humor, food in fairy tales, what politicians eat, comfort food, and manners at the table.

But enough! There's too much to say. The Sex Life of Food is both a banquet and a late-night nosh. Taste it, devour it, and enjoy!

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Food Writing, History, Sexuality, Cooking

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Damon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a foodie, a writer and actually author books about sexuality, so this book seemed like it was built for me based on title alone. Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting past the halfway point.

The challenge I had is the author's light touch. There wasn't much in it beyond physical metaphors (the banana and the avocado, etc.) and the actual insights, such as the origins of the term "a bun in the oven", are just mentioned, not explored. It felt like a 1,000-word food magazine essay stretched into 350 pages.

The book is far from awful, but I had very high hopes for the subject and am disappointed that it still hasn't been handled with care.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good observations about our cultural/social attitudes towards food(s). Mostly regurgitated information with a stale flavor. Ultimately, this concept is too ambitious for the caliber of this author's writing.

[Fiona Endsley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full of misinformation, I'd love to say something more erudite than "the author is a dumb-ass" but that about covers it.

[Markedwithink Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book in the world for an English major who loves food and sex!!!

[Highonlollypops · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit that the title is a lot more clickbait than actually giving the reader any clue as to the contents of the book.

It's easy to guess just from the author's name that this book is the last book written by this author. Food is very much her thing though, as this one appears to be inspired by old recipe books. This book is intended to be an ode to how nice food can be.

Our bodies are full of connections, in fact, and in the psyche, from top to bottom in a curved and sensuous line.

It is the food connections that count, from the shape of food to its image in our souls, from cooking as an act of love to food as it travels through our bodies, from the food in fairy tales to what politicians eat, from the food that comforts us to our manners at the table, from food used as power to food that becomes a problem.

Food is the pleasure of now. Food is what keeps us alive. We're better off not taking it for granted.

This book is not at all "erotic", what it really is is a series of short essays that discuss the history of and sensual roles that certain dishes/foods play in our lives. I feel like it is quite similar to the traditional Chinese idea of food being used as medicine. The main premise seems to be discussing Our different types of relationships with food.

The style of her writing is quite poetic prose and quite lyrical. I am a little bit disappointed that it didn't seem to include recipes for the dishes that she tried to describe.

I'm glad that I borrowed this book from the library instead of buying a copy of my own to annotate as this is the type of book that I keep picking up and putting down - reading it whenever I feel in a particular type of mood that makes me want to read something where food is the theme.

Honestly, I never got around to actually finishing reading this book, partly due to accidental over-borrowing, and partly due to being sidetracked by the other books that I wanted to read. I do plan on re-borrowing it again at some point in the future.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why I'm interested in this book at the first place
Found this book on one the shelves of a public library in a mall, and so, I borrowed it.

What do I think of this book... now that I've done reading it
This is a book of vast information from everywhere, simplified and condensed into
one. It covers from (almost) everything Biblical histories, histories from the get go, cultures of bygones and modern times.

+
Highlights of my favorites:
1. I sound like a broken record, The Sex Life of Food looks like your go-to book on everything food and how it centers around sex. And vice versa.
2. Bunny (the author) was very generous by sharing 6 recipes.
3. A certain Führer's meal for lunchtime: Berchtesgaden Soup. Looking at the ingredients tempted me to make one, really.

-
I appreciate this being a mini encyclopedia of a subject combo I never thought ever relatable before, but there's one thing that bothers me:
Shouldn't there be some sort of citations of where these information came from?

I don't find any citation - even if there is a dedicated section for table of contents and indexes added.

Get this
1. I can safely give this a stamp of approval for the book for foodies.
2. Also a great coffee table book to strike a conversation with you house guests.
3. For fellow foodie that loves sex as well, this is for you.

[Anna Engel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like each chapter was written as part of a serial for a cooking magazine. Fun reading separately, but a bit boring all together. A little dash of Americana, a mixture of our noble immigrant backgrounds, some cutesy phrases for flavor, and salt to taste, in the form of a little risqué mention of dong-shaped food.

And so much of this book is chicken-or-egg (sorry): Do we perceive food as male or female because it inherently is (shape, taste, etc.), or because marketing tells us so (through slogans, ads, and mascots like Tony the Tiger)? Too many factoids and tidbits, without any analysis.

The first chapter, I thought, okay, introducing the subject. The next chapter, fine, I'll give it one more. By the third, I was done and played on my phone for the remainder of my commute.

[cee · Rating 2 out of 5]

more like 1.5 or 1.75 stars but i'm feeling generous. i was hoping for like, cogent analysis, but all you really get is surface anecdotes, dubious etymologies, a lot of freudianism and extremely questionable and irritating gender essentialism (BUT I REPEAT MYSELF, RIMSHOT RIMSHOT), and the killer for me—NO CITATIONS. especially in the last couple chapters, if you're going to pull facts about cannibalism or adolf hitler's personal life, two subjects which for different reasons are incredibly prone to mythmaking, please provide actual citations for the information. not worth the time. i love a good cultural history but this project was pretty obviously biting off far more than she could chew (sorry) and the final work is half-baked (SORRY) (i am not sorry)

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really expecting to like this a lot more than i did...

I am a true romantic and I try and bring romance to every aspect of my life. Food being one of them. I love cooking by myself, eating dinners at restaurants by myself, etc...

this book just had so little to say after the 3rd chapter. kinda disappointing, but still decent book

[Barb Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am ever hungry, ahem, for interesting stories of symbolism and folklore. Well, and sex. This book contained several juicy tidbits, but too often reads like a thesis. I would have preferred less spitting out of info and more story-telling. Too, academics just tend, by their very nature, to over analyze. All that psychological mumbo jumbo makes my eyes glaze over. I don't believe I have a mom complex simply because I love chocolate pudding. Bah! And for gosh sake, can't a fairy tale just be a simple fable with a moral? Must you try to insert every bit of psycho babble into it? Yuck.

Too, I haven't even researched the idea of symbolism with sex and food, yet right off the top of my head spring all sorts of things that I can't believe this author excluded.
For example, she mentions famous authors having written about food or cooking, yet doesn't even mention Isabel Allende's book Aphrodite--part information about aphrodisiacs, and part cookbook, and probably my favorite book of all time.

And if art is a reflection of what was going in in the world politically, how could she not have discussed famous works of art? Even record album cover art is noteworthy--remember Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Whipped Cream?
What about televison shows or television commercials? "Milk Does a Body Good". The ad speaks to the women who hope to look like Heidi Klum...all dressed up in pigtails, red heels, Lederhosen, and white mustache. And for men, of course, the ad speaks to fetish and fantasy. Joe Namath's famous Noxzema ad, "Take it off, take it all off", could just as easily been whipped cream.
Even Hootie the owl could be deemed sexual (or am I now the one over analyzing?). "How many licks does it take to reach the Tootsie roll center of a Tootsie pop?" Just sayin'.

The author mentions a few films that might have included sex on the kitchen table, but how could she not have mentioned the famous food scene in 9-1/2 Weeks, where Mickey Rourke blindfolds Kim Basinger and feeds her, drips honey on her body, ice cubes melting and dripping across her bare skin?
And Nastassja Kinski made eating a strawberry pure eroticism in Tess.

There is some long-winded discussion of political figures and how their food choices predicted their election results (the Sargeant Shriver part was actually quite interesting), but no mention of the fact that California's governor Gray Davis ate the same exact lunch for over 30 years (thick-sliced turkey, flatbread, a light swipe of mustard, raw vegetables in a baggie), bland and boring. He was recalled.

A book about food and sex and no mention of edible underwear, flavored oils, and a multitude of other goodies?

There are several paragraphs about eggs and their meaning. She mentions miscellaneous word derivatives and significance, yet doesn't discuss the word cuckold (an adulterer, the word is associated with the cuckoo bird's habit of laying their eggs in other birds' nests).

She mentions holidays and festivities, but neglects German Schultute (a biiiiig cone full of candy has got to have some sexual connotation, no?), May Day cones and baskets, or cake walks.

Despite how it comes up short, there is enough here to have kept my curiosity piqued. It's an interesting subject afterall.

[Barb Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am ever hungry, ahem, for interesting stories of symbolism and folklore. Well, and sex. This book contained several juicy tidbits, but too often reads like a thesis.

I haven't even researched the idea of symbolism with sex and food, yet right off the top of my head spring all sorts of things that I can't believe this author excluded.
For example, she mentions famous authors having written about food or cooking, yet doesn't even mention Isabel Allende's book Aphrodite--part information about aphrodisiacs, part cookbook, and probably my favorite book of all time.

And if art is a reflection of what was going in in the world politically, how could she not have discussed famous works of art? Even record album cover art is noteworthy--remember Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Whipped Cream?
What about televison shows or television commercials? "Milk Does a Body Good". The ad speaks to the women who hope to look like Heidi Klum...all dressed up in pigtails, red heels, Lederhosen, and white mustache. And for men, of course, the ad speaks to fetish and fantasy. Joe Namath's famous Noxzema ad, "Take it off, take it all off", could just as easily been whipped cream.
Even Hootie the owl could be deemed sexual (or am I over analyzing?). "How many licks does it take to reach the Tootsie roll center of a Tootsie pop?" Just sayin'.

The author mentions a few films that might have included sex on the kitchen table, but how could she not have mentioned the famous food scene in 9-1/2 Weeks, where Mickey Rourke blindfolds Kim Basinger and feeds her, drips honey on her body, ice cubes melting and dripping across her bare skin?
And Nastassja Kinski made eating a strawberry pure eroticism in Tess.

There is some long-winded discussion of political figures and how their food choices predicted their election results (the Sargeant Shriver part was actually quite interesting), but no mention of the fact that California's governor Gray Davis ate the same exact lunch for over 30 years (thick-sliced turkey, flatbread, a light swipe of mustard, raw vegetables in a baggie), bland and boring. He was recalled.

A book about food and sex and no mention of edible underwear, flavored oils, and a multitude of other goodies?

There are several paragraphs about eggs and their meaning. She mentions miscellaneous word derivatives and significance, yet doesn't discuss the word cuckold (an adulterer, the word is associated with the cuckoo bird's habit of laying their eggs in other birds' nests).

She mentions holidays and festivities, but neglects German Schultute (a biiiiig cone full of candy has got to have some sexual connotation, no?), May Day cones and baskets, or cake walks.

I would have preferred less spitting out of info and more story-telling. Too, academics just tend, by their very nature, to over analyze. All that psychological mumbo jumbo makes my eyes glaze over. I don't believe I have a mom complex simply because I love chocolate pudding. Bah! And for gosh sake, can't a fairy tale just be a simple fable with a moral? Must you try to insert every bit of psycho babble into it? Yuck.

Despite how it comes up short, there is enough here to have kept my curiosity piqued. It's an interesting subject afterall.

[Mattie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really disappointed by this book. The Sex Life of Food is ostensibly about the interrelationship about food and sex. And, yes, it does cover some of that ground, but it meanders off into other aspects of the relationship people have with food as if the confluence of food & sex didn't yield enough to discuss. Somehow I find that hard to believe and was disappointed that the main subject of the book didn't receive a deeper analysis. The digressions into other areas, although not uninteresting, seemed incongruous. (Alternatively, the book could really have been about the social and psychological relationships people have with food, although that would have had to have been a much more substantial undertaking.)

The two main problems for the book, hinted at above, are lazy writing/analysis and sloppy editing. I'd give a couple of examples, but I hardly think its worth it. Its getting two stars instead of one because it did have occasional juicy tidbits of information.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

A somewhat misleading title to catch goofy interest, but otherwise a very interesting, very well-written book. A series of essays that meander over a number of topics relating, generally, to the psychological implications of what we eat and why we eat. She emphasizes the connections between food and security, being fed and our perceptions of the love of the people who feed us. At the end she goes off on some interesting tangents, such as a longish discussion of cannibalism, and Hitler's vegetarianism and what that food fetish implied about his psyche. The "relevant recipes" at the end are not much worth considering.
Stylistically, a rich, clever, witty writing exercise that I thoroughly enjoyed. I was well worth just flowing along, following her wide-ranging research and interesting interpretations of it.
I will remember the Hitler chapter, and the continual connection between food, being fed, and love, concern, protection and security.

[Anaïs Ninjas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of The Sex Life of Food was about the connections between eating and sex in the human psyche. It was interesting, well written, and fit the title of the book. The second half of the book was also interesting and well written, but was about power and food, rather than sexuality and food. I'm sure that power and sex are inextricably related, of course, but there was nary a mention of sexuality in the long chapter about presidential food choices(with the exception, of course, of Bill Clinton's infamous Oval Office beej).

Anyway, my 3 rating is actually a mental 3.5(WOULD READ AGAIN). I wish the book were more focused on its purported topic, but that is my only Sex Life of Food related whinge.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't let the title mislead you. It's not really about food having a sex life. The book focuses on such topics as food taboos, comfort food, aphrodisiacs, food coloring, food in fairy tales, the processes of digestion, the restaurant industry and cannibalism. The last two aren't a related topic (lol!!!!). The author gives an old english rhyme which I read aloud to my husband. He laughed like a schoolboy!!!! It's on page 128 for those interested. The book is quite a history lesson on food. I really enjoyed this one. It's full of little tidbits of information that I found to be quite interesting.

[Patrice Sartor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I so wanted to enjoy this book. After all, it's about sex and food, two of the best things ever! Still, I could not finish it. Many of the historical tidbits and facts about food (and how it relates to sensuality, sex and other stuff) were interesting. The problem for me was how these facts were presented and the author's writing style. Since I started this title I've finished about five other books, so it definitely did not captivate me. Meh! (Got to page 118, then skimmed here and there til the end.)

[Juli Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a quarter of the way through this book, and it's utterly fascinating and full of interesting trivia. For example, carrots were a common masturbatory aid in Victorian England, and, in Arabic, "nibbling the fig" is a euphemism for cunnilingus. Also, apparently, the Puritans, weird fucks that they were, considered parsnips dangerously erotic.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

You have to read a book that is written by someone named Bunny Crumpacker. This book is full of interesting tidbits about historic peoples and their relationship with food. Not to mention there are Cannibalism jokes!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like reading books about food. This book does a good job of exploring the relation of sex and love and food. The section about Adolf Hitler was very enlightening. You are what you eat! (or don't)

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a brilliant book. It takes sensuality and food and aphrodisiacs and cooking and history and mythology and combines it all into one terrific read. For anyone who loves food and feeling sexy, I highly recommend it.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading books about the anthropology of food is a quirk of mine. This one is really good.

[Eriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great overview of why we eat the foods we do, how those choices influence culture and why certain foods hold such significance. Great cocktail conversation fodder!

[Kelley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting ideas, explanations, and comparisons. It could have been edited in half, though, as A LOT is repetitive.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

6/13/15 2.5