2.18 In the Devil's Garden: Sinful History of Forbidden Food by Stewart Lee Allen

I was talking about Pollan's Botany of Desire, which I highly recommend, with my friend and neighbor, C, and she handed me this. It was interesting. Divided up into 7 sections each one, naturally, corresponding with the 7 Deadly Sins, all of which I still cannot remember, it follows how certain foods are made into "good" or "bad" in societies, usually through the influence of religions. He talks mostly about Christianity but there's also some Islam, Judaism, Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and the native religions of South and North America, as well as Africa.

I thought that the premise was interesting, but the way it was carried out was kinda of hokey. His humor didn't match up with mine so I didn't think that he was particularly funny and I thought that some of his themes got a bit stretched. Allen's not making any friends with me either by using the words "slut" and "bitch" or by using the word "rape" to refer to anything other than an assault. Ugh. Totally inappropriate and yeah, I'm probably being too sensitive, but I don't want to inwardly cringe while I'm reading a book about food because of word choice.

I've been a reading fool lately, so I've got two more reviews up my sleeve. Check back soon.