Flighty Aphrodite Isabel Allende mixes food and sex. Isabel Allende bends the rules, sometimes into veritable loops. To assemble a whole book out of the lore of aphrodisiacs, she mixes history, personal testimony and recipes. Many of her paragraphs drift languorously into tempestuous asides and hypnotizing memories that send the blood pumping.
Youth helps, too.
As Allende writes, a simple cup of chamomile tea turns on the young. You want to gorge, you want to get frisky, but pretty soon you just want to do something else besides think about papayas and erections. You toy with the idea of whirling up a feast in the kitchen, the waft of heavy aromas luring lovers out of the cracks in the wall. Then you realize a cup of chamomile tea will do quite nicely. Newcity Chicago .