about
In the Devil's Garden:
A Sinful History of Forbidden Food
From the Garden of Eden to the divine foie gras, here is a delicious smorgasbord of forbidden foods that have defined cultures around the world. Matching each of these taboo dishes to one of the Seven Deadly sins, Stewart Lee Allen illustrates that when a pleasure as primal is criminalized, the resulting tale is rarely less than astonishing.
In "Blasphemy" we read the tale of the the kosher food sniffing priests of the Spanish Inquisition. In "Lust" there is the true story of how the tomato came to be considered the original Forbidden Fruit, and how chocolate-aphrodisiacs of the infamous Madame duBarry helped bring about the fall of French Monarchy. The "Gluttony" course invites the reader to an anceint Roman dinner party where nearly every dish served - from poppy-crusted rodents to stuffed "Trojan Pork"-was considered a crime against the state.
Filled with incredible history and the author's travels in many of these exotic locales, In the Devil's Garden also features historical recipes like the Matzoh-ball stews outlawed by the Catholic Church and the forbidden "chocolate champagnes" of the Aztecs.
"Readers will devour his writing, which is infused with a wickedly subtle sense of wit..."
John Charles,
Library Journal
"Allen's food about the social meaning of food goes down like cotton candy. Delightful at the moment of consumption, it melts away seconds later..."
BookMagazine
Previous Paise for The Devil's Cup "The Devil's Cup is absolutely riveting, alternating between the informative and the hilarious. Essential Reading for foodies, java-junkies, anthropologists and anyone else interested in funny, sardonically told adventure stories."
"The cat's pajama of all travel stories..."
Anthony Bourdain
Author of Kitchen Confidential
"The imagery is completely Epinal, but the recipe is full of verve... the Kerouac of caffeine."
Liberation
"Allen takes everything in stride, and he has th rare ability to capture his characters' unsavoriness without denigrating them...He traveled 20,000 miles in reserching this adrenalline filled book..."
Richard Reynolds
Salon.com
"This is a funny book that takes some funny routes. It makes brillant but unsustainable conections, and somethimes just stops and stares into space. These are not the vices of the caffeine drinker, but the dope smokers. Stewart Lee Allen turns down a joint in Africa, but I don't believe him..."
David Goldblatt
The (London) Independent
Politics of the Baguette
The Erotic Patissier
The Jewish Pig
What People
Are Saying
