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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