Food and love looms large in our cultural imagination. We’re seduced by aphrodisiacs like figs, chocolate and oysters. A romantic dinner date takes a new relationship to the next level or rekindles the flame in an established one.
These associations between food and sex go back centuries, as host Anita Rao learns from historian Rachel Hope Cleves. And as Rachel Hope explores in her book, “Lustful Appetites: An Intimate History of Good Food and Wicked Sex,” that history includes the tight relationship between sex work and early restaurants in Paris, the lives of queer women in the early 1900s and the heterosexual reclamation of food in the mid-20th century.
Anita and Rachel Hope explore three centuries of food and sex — as well as Rachel Hope’s personal ties to erotic and alimentary appetites — to understand what makes that connection so strong.
Plus, Puerto Rican chef Manolo López shares a Valentine’s Day recipe and his favorite sexy food. Happy cooking and happy eating!
