To The Last Page

As the title of the book makes quite clear, The Food of Love  not very originally ties love of food with sex and gives the term ‘fancying an Italian’ a double meaning. Laura is an America student who has won a scholarship to spend a year studying art history in Rome. Having had enough of fresh, hot-blooded, yet romantically-challenged Italian men, she decides she needs someone more considerate, who can look after her palette as well as her heart – someone who can cook slow instead of burning hot. She promises her friend that in future she is only going to date men who know their Bearnaise from their Béchamel. That line kind of sets the tone for the book and if that's not to your taste, you’re not going to appreciate the …er, subtleties of this book. Tomasso overhears her make this comment and, while he may know good food when he tastes it, just as he recognises an easy tourist conquest when he sees one, he’s no cook, but he manages to pass himself off to Laura as a master-chef. The...