Darimana datangnya cinta? Tanyakan itu pada ibu-mu, dan mungkin beliau akan menjawab, dari perut naik ke hati. Itulah pendapat beberapa orang tua yang mengatakan untuk memenangkan hati seorang pria, manjakanlah perutnya. Hal yang sama terjadi di dalam novel yang yummy ini.Laura Patterson berkunjung ke Roma,Italia untuk mempelajari tentang sejarah seni di kota itu. Di kota itu, Laura mendapati dirinya yang tidak beruntung mendapatkan teman kencan yang menyenangkan hatinya. Setelah menceritakan pengalaman kencannya yang tidak menyenangkan pada temannya, Carlotta, dia memutuskan akan mencari teman kencan seorang pria yang pintar memasak.Tommaso Massi telah sering melihat Laura, si gadis Amerika. Di dalam benaknya langsung timbul keinginan untuk mengencani gadis itu dan membawanya ke tempat tidur. Sayangnya dia hanyalah seorang pelayan, sementara gadis itu hanya tertarik dengan pria yang pandai memasak. Tapi bagi Tommaso yang berprinsip “ada banyak gadis cantik sementara hanya ada satu Tommaso” menganggap hal itu bukanlah hambatan. Dia mengaku dirinya seorang chef di sebuah rumah makan terbaik di Roma. Untuk memuluskan rencananya mendapatkan Laura, Tommaso membutuhkan bantuan Bruno, sahabatnya, yang adalah seorang chef.Bruno setuju membantu Tommaso. Semua “masakan Tomasso” untuk Laura adalah buah tangan Bruno. Bruno yang memang sangat mencintai dunia memasak, tentu saja membuat masakan dengan sepenuh hati. Hasilnya, Laura sangat terkesan dengan masakan Tommaso, membuatnya langsung jatuh hati pada Tomasso. Apalagi ketika masakan Tommaso membangkitkan gairah di dalam dirinya. Sebenarnya Bruno juga jatuh cinta pada Laura, ketika pertama kali dia melihat gadis itu (tanpa mengetahui bahwa Laura adalah pacarnya Tommaso). Dan ketika Bruno mengetahui kondisi sebenarnya, Bruno jadi patah hati. Namun, dia tetap ingin memberikan yang terbaik bagi Laura lewat masakan.Cinta dan makanan. Dua tema yang selalu diangkat oleh Anthony Capella dalam novelnya. Kali ini lebih terasa perpaduannya lewat Bruno, sang chef yang memasak menggunakan hati. Dia memilih setiap bahan dengan teliti dan tepat sehingga masakan olahannya menimbulkan efek melebihi afrodisiak. Sayangnya sikap tidak percaya diri Bruno membuatnya sering kehilangan kesempatan berharga. Saya sendiri tidak bisa menyukai Tommaso yang memanfaatkan temannya, berbohong demi mendapatkan kesempatan tidur dengan Laura. Bahkan ketika dia sudah merasa bosan, dia mengandaikan Laura sebagai daging buruan yang harus berganti ketika musim juga berganti.Ngomong-ngomong soal masakan, tentu saja ada resep yang diselipkan di sana sini oleh penulis. Bahkan istilah-istilah di dunia kuliner yang akan menambah perbendaharaan khazanah pengetahuan pembacanya. Membaca tulisan Anthony Capella selalu membuat saya merasa cepat lapar, karena imajinasi saya begitu dimanjakan oleh deksripsi masakan yang lezat.
Why is Italian food so incredibly erotic? Oh, come on, of course it is! Just think of, to take the first example that pops into my head, the Bella Notte scene from Lady and the Tramp:Or how about the Ninja Turtles? Would they be the sex gods they are if they didn't have Italian names and eat pizza? And if you still aren't convinced, there's that famous quote from Sophia Loren, which is now even available on a T-shirt.Try replacing "spaghetti" with, say, "hamburger". Doesn't work, does it?Anthony Capella's brilliant idea in this novel is to retell the Cyrano story with Italian food replacing poetry. The Roxanne figure is a cute American twenty-something on vacation in Italy (sort of a Vicky No-Cristina Roma deal). Cyrano is a gifted but rather large-nosed Italian chef, and Christian is a hunky waiter at his restaurant.So Christian meets Roxanne when she's out shopping for pasta, is immediately smitten, and somehow convinces her that he's a master chef himself. He invites her home for "a real Italian dinner", but then has the problem of creating it, given that he can't cook to save his life. He talks his colleague into helping him out, and tells Roxanne that he's the waiter. After which things proceed roughly as in the original, though Capella has made quite a few changes in the plot.The real charm of the book, though, is in the food and the sex. Every meal is described in loving detail, as is the glorious Italian-food-themed sex it inspires. You don't believe that sex can be Italian-food-themed? Read the book and then tell me if you still think that. Honestly, if this doesn't have you scurrying either to your kitchen or your bedroom, or preferably both, there's something wrong with you. And if you can't immediately come up with any Italian recipes, check out my food page. Buon Appetito!
What do You think about The Food Of Love (2005)?
I liked the Wedding Officer a lot. This was no where near as good as the Wedding Officer. It had potential, and then it got all weird. The characters were pretty shallow, his female protagonist made me roll my eyes a lot, and the sex scenes were actually kind of gross (pretending the woman is a pig on a spit roasting in olive oil and rosemary?) Plus, the author lost track of characters and plots that he introduced and resolved them in an unsatisfactorily way. I did like Bruno a lot, but even he became kind of whiny. It was a good vacation read, but I was disappointed.
—Allie
Perhaps if I hadn't been so drawn in by the epic storytelling in The Various Flavors of Coffee or the war-time flavor of The Wedding Officer -- in other words, had I read this book first instead of last -- I might have liked the food of love. As it was Capella has left me expecting more from him. The story was, in a word, cute. Cute's okay, if you are looking for cute. I was hoping for sweeping. If I may be permitted to allow another word? Predictable. I was kinda rooting for a plot surprise towards the end, but I did not get my wish. Everything went as I suspected it would from about page 10. I don't read a lot of chick-lit, to be honest, and I would say this book falls firmly in that category. For a light, fluffy read, it isn't bad. But for Capella, it could be better. (As a side note: I am very worried about the coffee shop guy. Was I the only one?)
—C
I really wanted to give this book 5 stars. The setting of Rome was incredible, and the food.....oh dear god, the food was the best 'character' in the whole book. Mr Capella clearly appreciates food and the role it plays in people's lives, and all the food described had my mouth watering. I also loved Bruno, Marie, and Benedetta, and despite his actions, I rather liked Tommasso too (even though all he thought about for most of the book was how to get Laura into bed). I was really caught up in Bruno and Tommasso's lives and wanted everything to work out for them. I laughed out loud at some of their actions, rolled my eyes at them, wanted to yell at them - they are incredibly real characters with real complexity and emotion. What took this down to four stars for me was the character of Laura. For the first two thirds of the book, I really didn't like her. She's greedy and selfish both in her culinary habits and her sexual relationships. She's pretentious. She's hypocritical. And she's also rather stupid. In the final third of the book, after she's been through some pretty tough stuff, she becomes more likeable. However, throughout the book she simply seemed to lack the depth and complexity of the other characters - even Marie and Benedetta who aren't major characters have much more depth than Laura, one of the three main characters did. Beyond being beautiful and loving food and being Little Miss Exciting in the bedroom, she seemed rather dull and insipid. At one point she's compared to some kind of dessert which is beautiful and sweet on the outside but empty and insignificant inside, and that is her. Right at the end, she does get a little depth (kind of) but to be honest I failed to see what made two guys so crazy over her.(view spoiler)[ Ultimately, I think Tommasso got the right idea in the end - he had a fling with her, and then moved on to the far more interesting and substantial Marie. As for Bruno, frankly I wanted him to go for Benedetta. I could understand Kim falling for her because he's every bit as pretentious and vapid as she is. (hide spoiler)]
—Georgie
