The Food of Love
Anthony Capella, 2004
Penguin Group USA
310 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780452286559
Summary
In Anthony Capella's delicious debut novel, Laura, a twentysomething American, is on her first trip to Italy. She's completely enamored of the art, beauty, and, of course, food that Rome has to offer. Soon she's enamored of the handsome and charming Tommaso, who tells her he's a chef at the famed Templi restaurant and begins to woo her with his gastronomic creations.
But Tommaso hasen't been entirely truthful—he's really just a waiter.
The master chef behind the tantalizing meals is Tommaso's talented but shy friend Bruno, who loves Laura from afar. Thus begins a classic comedy of errors full of the culinary magic and the sensual stmosphere of Italy. The result is a romantic comedy in the tradition of Cyrano de Bergerac and Roxanne that tempts readers to devour it in one sitting. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1962
• Where—Uganda, Africa
• Education—Oxford University
• Currently—lives in London
Anthony Capella was born in Uganda, Africa in 1962. He was educated at St Peter’s College, Oxford, where he graduated with a First in English Literature.
The Food of Love, his first novel, was a Richard and Judy Summer Read in the UK. It has been translated into nineteen languages and has been optioned for the screen by Warner. His second novel, The Wedding Officer, was an international bestseller and is being made into a film by New Line. His third novel The Various Flavours of Coffee was released 2008 and The Empress of Ice Cream in 2010. (From the the author's website.)
Book Reviews
Anyone who has spent a Sunday afternoon roaring through Manhattan with a handsome Italian in a gorgeous Maserati, searching for the perfect bresaola—or anyone who would like to—will look indulgently on Capella's well-fashioned fable about the lovesick Bruno's culinary seduction of his friend Tommaso's girl, Laura.
Laura Schillinger - New York Times
In this first novel, Anthony Capella has created an enjoyable though predictable narrative. But predictability is not always bad—reading the book is like going to your favorite Roman trattoria while on vacation. You know ahead of time how the spaghetti carbonara will taste, but you will nevertheless revel in the sensation as each ingredient warms your palate and leaves you satisfied.
Mark Rotella - Washington Post
Evoking the sights, smells and flavors of Italy in sensuous prose, this lively book also features recipes for readers to create (or just dream about) Bruno's food of amore.
People
She had never eaten food like this before. No: she had never eaten before." And that's just the first of 22-year-old Laura Patterson's gustatory epiphanies in Rome, where she has come to study art history. Handsome Tomasso seduces her with succulent baby artichokes and frothy zabagliones, but what the reader knows and Laura doesn't is that Tomasso is a waiter. The creator of the rapturous meals is his best friend, Bruno, who has a big nose, a poet's soul and a mad passion for Laura. Capella's spin on Cyrano is his debut novel, but his sentences are as expert as Bruno's sauces, and he serves up a brilliant meal of soothing predictabilities punctuated by surprises. Secondary characters are fully realized, especially earthy Benedetta, Bruno's truffle country consolation until she urges him to follow his heart back to Laura. The cooking lesson e-mails at the end of the book are like a second glass of grappa, too much of a good thing, but Capella is deservedly the subject of buzz in the food world. This is a foodie treat. Sophisticated gourmets will realize right away that Capella's no poseur (he quotes Marcella Hazan, for starters).
Publishers Weekly
If "chick lit" is a recognized genre, then "foodie lit" should be a delicious offshoot of this predictably enjoyable group. Travel to the eternal city, Rome, with college student Laura Patterson as she embarks on an art history course peppered with the lives and loves of Italian Romeos and chefs. Tommaso's ways with women are legendary, Bruno's talents with food are exquisite, and the inevitable sexual encounters and the proper remorse regarding romantic deceit move this delightful narrative as swiftly as one's passion for Roman cooking. Like an extended family, there is a huge cast of characters and considerable travel between colorful towns and beautiful piazzas. The story is decidedly more mature than Tucker Shaw's Flavor of the Week or Susan Heyboer O'Keefe's Death by Eggplant; this reader was reminded of the films Chocolat and Big Night as the aromas of Rome wafted off the pages. This is an ideal selection for older students going abroad to Italy, or readers who are fond of shopping, cooking and hearing Italian phrases translated for sentimental reasons.
Nancy Zachary - KLIATT
An American studying art in Rome, Laura thinks she is through with Italian men, until her friend persuades her to give bella romance another chance by dating a chef since chefs are good with their hands. At first, Tomasso thinks that Laura is just another beautiful American who will quickly succumb to his sexy wiles, but he discovers that she is holding out for a man who can cook. After telling Laura he is a chef at one of Rome's most famous restaurants, Tomasso-who is actually only a waiter-begs his friend Bruno to use his culinary gifts to help him woo Laura. Bruno, who is shy everywhere but the kitchen, agrees, only to discover that he is helping his friend seduce the woman he loves. With its vividly detailed setting, wonderfully amusing characters, and beautifully described native dishes, Capella's earthy and seductive debut novel is as irresistible as good Italian cooking. Seasoned with the right blend of romance and humor, it invites readers to savor each delicious word. Highly recommended for all public libraries. —John Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZ
Library Journal
A Cyrano de Bergerac first novel about a shy Roman chef who helps one of his waiters seduce an American coed with the perfect meal. At 22, Laura Patterson is a bit more sophisticated and serious than the typical junior-year-abroader, and at the Anglo-American University in Rome (whose students tend to hang out in Irish bars and complain about Italian pizza), she stands out. For one thing, Laura actually has Italian friends, who have dutifully taught her not to order cappuccino in the afternoon and never to wear sneakers in public. So for Tomasso Masi, who has made a career of seducing tourists, Laura is a rare prize: a blond American who walks into his neighborhood bar and can speak (and swear) in Roman slang. Tomasso is a waiter at Templi, a restaurant so rarefied that you need to make reservations three months in advance, but he tells Laura that he's a chef in order to lure her to his apartment for dinner and whatever else might follow. Fortunately for Tomasso, his roommate Bruno is a chef-at Templi-and the meal he concocts (and Tomasso passes off as his own) removes any qualms Laura may have had about spending the night. Tomasso is very happy, but the problem is that Laura has fallen in love as much with Bruno's cooking as with Tomasso himself. So for several months Bruno goes along with the charade, secretly preparing meals and slipping out just before Laura arrives. Why such magnanimity? Mainly because Bruno (who has never had a girlfriend in his life) has secretly fallen in love with Laura himself. Will he ever let on? Cyrano, you remember, very nearly took the secret to his grave—but he wasn't an Italian. A nice romp through the back alleys of the Eternal City, all in a lighthearted tone more farce than tragedy.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for The Food of Love:
1. The Food of Love is a modern twist on Cyrano de Bergerac. Briefly familiarize yourself with the famous story (the author's website has a synopsis) then find the parallel plot points in this book. Does Capella's book work as a re-do?
2. Talk about the ways in which food is used as a metaphor for love and sexuality. Did you enjoy the passages? Find them humorous? Too much? What...?
3. There are a number of other books also centered on "food cultures" — countries in which food takes on a larger role than fueling the body. In these cultures, food carries mystical properties—able to fuel the soul... bind community...mine deep instinctual emotions. Water for Chocolate is one such book. Can you name any others?
4. Why does Bruno persist with Tomasso's charade? How far do obligations of friendship and loyalty carry one?
5. Why is Bruno bored and dissatisfied with his new restaurant? What is he seeking, and what does he eventually find or learn from Benedetta?
6. Did you enjoy the book's long passages on Roman cuisine and the inside view of a working Italian restaurant? What were some of your favorite food descriptions—the ones that really made your mouth water?
7. Who do you feel are the most fully developed characters in the book, and in what way?
8. Were you suprised and/or pleased by the ending?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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