Book Review: Lustful Appetites by Rachel Hope Cleves

What if I told you that a book about food and sex, two of the more enjoyable things in life, was actually kind of boring?

Lustful Appetites by Rachel Hope Cleves is subtitled “an intimate history of good food and wicked sex” and in case you forget that, the author will helpfully use the phrase “good food and wicked sex” at least once a chapter for the first few chapters, before apparently forgetting that it was her tag line.

This book examines the relationship between food and sex from around the 18th or 19th century up to modern day, with a focus on France, England, and America — usually contrasting Anglo/American tastes against French tastes.

I wanted this book to either be lush and sensual, or campy and cheeky. Instead it was pretty serious, and thus not nearly as fun as a book about gourmet food and hot sex should be. It felt like a very mild PG-13 treatment of what should have been an R or even X-rated topic.

I really appreciated that Cleves dedicated several chapter to LGBTQIA+ communities and their relationships to and within the food world, but too often these chapters turned into “Person A was sleeping with Person B, who introduced them to Person C, who was like ‘You should write a cookbook.'” It was all so boring, only occasionally enlivened with the occasional bit of gossip found in a journal or letter.

I did enjoy that this book introduced me to a queer gourmet history that I wasn’t familiar with. It made me feel like my love of food and the fact that I don’t mind carrying a few extra pounds connects me to my Sapphic spiritual ancestors, and that whenever my spouse and I go out for a nice meal, or I mix us some delicious drinks at home, we’re honoring a queer tradition of making time for culinary pleasures.

Honestly, while I enjoyed listening to the audiobook with my spouse so we could discuss each chapter, I think I would have liked reading this one with my eyeballs more. There was a lot of word repetition, and it was often hard to tell when the author was quoting someone and when she was using her own words — which was especially troubling during a chapter when she was discussing a few trans “pretty waiter girls” (probably the most difficult chapter to listen to both in terms of repetition and dated, problematic language).

Over all, my impression of this book is that it was fine. I wouldn’t recommend you go out of your way to get it and read it/listen to it, but if it seems specifically interesting to you, you will pick up some new bits of trivia and maybe have some fun along the way.

CWs and TWs: Discussions of sex, disordered eating, religious dogma, homophobia, transphobia, diet culture, chronic illness (including and especially the AIDS crisis), brief mentions of pedophilia, and child abuse.

Source and Format: I borrowed the audiobook from Sno-Isle Libraries.

Reading Challenge Prompts

Nook & Cranny (Card 1): Food For Thought. This book was very thought-provoking, even if some of my thoughts were “I really wish a very campy gay man was writing this and dishing more gossip.” But seriously. I really am thinking about my place in the legacy of food-loving queer ladies.

Reading Challenge Progress

Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 8 of 25, no bingos.

Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 10 of 25, 1 bingo.

Book Riot: 10 of 25.

Physical TBR: 5 of 12.

World of Whimm: 11 of 24, no bingos.