Metaphor

Food and sex are interchanged in metaphoric references throughout the text of Aphrodite, as Allende persistently connects food and lovemaking in the language of her recipes and erotic tales. The link between sexual and culinary enjoyment, she claims, is in the senses: people experience both food and sex as physical and sensual pleasures. For example, Allende describes a couple having an elegant dinner while, in their thoughts, they make love "devouring each other" on the table. She also recounts the adventure of her plump friend Colomba, a woman whose "delicious flesh" drove her seducer mad with lust.

Allende lays the ground for her metaphors by explaining that many foods gain their aphrodisiac reputation on the basis of their resemblance to bodily features. Peach and apricot are "perhaps the most sensual of all fruits, for their delectable perfume, soft and juicy texture, and flesh color, an eloquent representation of...