Francis: 1:59

Good morning, mark.

Mark: 2:00

Hey Francis.

Francis: 2:01

How are you today?

Mark: 2:01

I'm doing very well. I got an interesting show today.

Francis: 2:04

Our show today is about the international language of love.

Mark: 2:07

You speak the language of love. I

Francis: 2:09

speak the language of love. Our guest later on is, is a woman named Bunny Crumpacker. She's the author of The Sex Life of Food. When Body and Soul Meet To Eat, it's a great hardcover book. We're gonna link you to how to Get It on our website. Listen to the show. Her book is fun and funny and sexy, and great food should be sexy and it's historical and broad ranging and, um. How could you not buy it with a title? There's actually a, a picture of a, a bare breasted woman holding a, an apple with this, with,

Mark: 2:38

with one little bite out of it.

Francis: 2:39

Yeah. And then, uh, she's in trouble. Huh. But anyway, uh, I think that that sex and food, romance and food are inextricably linked.

Mark: 2:46

Uh, I think that especially when you start, when you talk about restaurants and romance and food, um, they're inextricably linked

Francis: 2:53

and I, and we, we get to see a lot of mm-hmm. As more and more takes place in restaurants, I think it's a, we get to see, we get to go to a lot of weddings. We get to be present at a lot of proposals.

Mark: 3:02

Proposals. We were just, uh, three days ago we were, we had a proposal in the restaurant.

Francis: 3:06

We get to be present at a lot of first dates.

Mark: 3:08

Mm-hmm.

Francis: 3:08

My favorite, uh, first date story is I remember our friend Dave, who, and I hope Dave is listening, and he came in, with, this woman and I, and you knew Dave and you knew, his girlfriend

Mark: 3:20

mm-hmm.

Francis: 3:20

Or this woman he was going on a first date with, and I believe you walked up to them and said. Oh, this will never last. They're married now and have two kids.

Mark: 3:29

I challenge them and they only have one kid.

Francis: 3:30

I, they have one kid. I'm sorry.

Mark: 3:33

I was just teasing.

Francis: 3:35

And he, and he reminds you of that every day. I was tease, but that was their first date.

Mark: 3:37

Yes. It was their absolute first date, and I was just teasing him and she's still too good for him.

Francis: 3:41

You know what, it's, it's funny though because in restaurants you do get to see a lot of how people, how, how, how people. Interact. Mm-hmm. Like that. It's, it's a wonderful bird's eye view of, of, of how that things like that happen.

Mark: 3:50

And I think you can really get a look into what people's relationships are when you're their waiter or their maitre d. There are people who come in and they, they can't help but hold hands and they can't help, but, but their eyes are glued on one another.

Francis: 4:04

And there are others who come in and if, if, God forbid, the music should go off for five seconds, they'll be, they'll be like horrified at the deafening silence that is between,

Mark: 4:10

and there are, there are people who have forgotten to talk to one another, forgotten how to do that.

Francis: 4:14

I, I think that being in the restaurant business though, the, the, that we have so many talented young people that work for us and, and talented people our age that work for us. One of the things that you get being in the, in the restaurant industry is, especially on the high end, but in all restaurants, I think that restaurant people, the restaurant business draws a certain type of person, um. But also being in the restaurant and experiencing all the, being a party to all to high-end powerful business meetings. Mm-hmm. To romantic dinners, to, to watch the way different couples interact in a way that you're basically a fly on the wall. I think that really adds to people's, when you work in a restaurant, it adds their confidence. It lets them, you know, sort of see what works better with them. I will tell you that one of the most horrifying things in the world. I will always remember, it happens from time to time, but people who ask each other, a man who asks a woman to, to marry him in a restaurant,

Mark: 5:03

oh,

Francis: 5:03

if you get the staff involved, you better be sure the answer's gonna be yes. I have to say, I remember,

Mark: 5:09

oh,

Francis: 5:09

it

5:09

was,

Mark: 5:09

it's so bad.

Francis: 5:10

It was eight years ago at this point. You and I were both in the restaurant.

Mark: 5:13

It's so bad

Francis: 5:14

when it goes

Mark: 5:15

wrong.

Francis: 5:15

And this man, and this man had, um, had called us up. He said, he told us he was gonna ask his, his girlfriend to marry him. Um, we, he'd been in a couple times. We didn't really know him that well. And we gave him the best table in the house by the window. He gave the, this is a little cheesy, I think, but he gave the, he gave the ring to the waiter to put on the dessert plate.

Mark: 5:33

I, I'm fine with that. Some,

Francis: 5:34

yeah, whatever. Um, you know, it's better than a skywriter, you know, but whatever. So,

Mark: 5:38

I don't know. I think a Sky Writer's kind of, kind of neat.

Francis: 5:40

So the whole staff's like, oh, a guy on table 12 is gonna ask you. Maybe that's why

Mark: 5:43

I'm married and you're not,

Francis: 5:45

I can't afford a skywriter. Um, but so the, the whole staff knows this guy's gonna ask his girlfriend to marry him, right. He's at the window table. They start with champagne. They're having a great time. Mm-hmm. They're really having a great time.

Mark: 5:56

They, they're definitely having a, an enjoyable evening.

Francis: 5:58

And, you know, you've seen enough engagements. You know how this goes down, right? The rain comes out, the waiter presents the food. The captain stands by with the, uh, with a new bottle of champagne to pour.

Mark: 6:07

She squeals. She

Francis: 6:08

cries. She, she cries, but she still crying.

Mark: 6:11

Yeah. Then she stops crying, usually.

Francis: 6:12

No, she's, yeah. Right. But this one's still crying and she's crying and crying,

Mark: 6:16

crying, crying.

Francis: 6:17

And then they're talking. Now he's crying.

Mark: 6:19

Oh boy.

Francis: 6:21

And the captain is just pop the champagne. You know, he could've put the cork back in the house. I

Mark: 6:28

was about to say, sure. I can put the cork back in the champagne

6:30

now.

Francis: 6:30

And, um, literally he just, he just, you've sort of figured out what was going on. And then ca I watched that. We, mark and I were like, looking to be, you know, go over Congratulations. Sure.

Mark: 6:38

Congratulations

Francis: 6:39

for some champagne. And we, and we watched the sommelier there with the champagne. Who slowly takes steps backwards,

Mark: 6:45

kind of back steps his way away from

Francis: 6:46

the table slowly as if to not scare a bear. We all sort of fade away.

Mark: 6:52

Champagne. Anyone? We have an open bottle here.

Francis: 6:55

Oh yeah.

Mark: 6:56

It's, it's really c

Francis: 6:57

Monica goes around. No, but then she got up and left

Mark: 6:59

Uhhuh,

Francis: 7:00

Oh, I was just, I, we, mark and I wanted to go over and sit down at the table and cry with him and pour the champagne, but we suddenly,

Mark: 7:05

let's eat. Come on, let's eat pal. What do you say if that's, it's, that's a tough way for that to go down.

Francis: 7:10

That was a tough one,

Mark: 7:11

but you know, it, it. Given that sometimes it goes awry when, when you propose in a restaurant and you don't know that what the answer's going to be. I think that a, a, a restaurant can be a very, very romantic place. Yes. And one of the reasons that it's a very romantic place is there are no interruptions. There is no telephone, there are no children asking you for more milk. It's very private. It can be if you want it to be,

Francis: 7:35

but you can't like grab each other and make love on the floor.

Mark: 7:36

Very personal. Yeah. But I have four kids. I, I'm not, that's, I'm not, I'm not having it. Okay. Unless I'm out to a restaurant that's, that's as close as I'm gonna get at that, at that point. Um, it, it's just, it's just a great place to go and just be focused on one another.

Francis: 7:52

But, but one of the things that, that's interesting that we're gonna talk about later that she covers in this book is, um, different kinds of food and you need to be careful mm-hmm. Because, well, not careful, you just do whatever you want, but, um, you know, going out to this. Big sumptuous feast is not necessarily the most romantic thing, depending on where you want the night to go afterwards.

Mark: 8:10

Right. I have the lasagna and the sausage. That doesn't always

Francis: 8:13

work. Exactly. Um, you know, the romantic dinners are generally there are afro aphrodisia foods. Is that a word? I think

Mark: 8:21

it is today.

Francis: 8:21

Okay. There are foods that are not, that are, are known to be aphrodisiacs, but what are they, they're like a little piece of chocolate. Mm-hmm. They are, um, oysters and shrimp and shellfish. Mm-hmm.

Mark: 8:30

Things that don't fill you up.

Francis: 8:32

Things that don't fill you up and, and things that are supposed to have, you know, chemical properties of being aphrodisiacs. But it's also, the idea is to have spicy food, light food, sometimes sweet food. Um, but you know, I I, I find sometimes people go awry, like when they go out on Valentine's Day and you have that big dinner.

Mark: 8:48

Mm-hmm.

Francis: 8:49

And it's just, it doesn't, it doesn't leak.

Mark: 8:51

Well, I, I'll tell you my, it is, it is my favorite place to go have a romantic evening is, is to go to a restaurant. And whether you go and do go someplace else afterwards or before, or whether it's dancing or, or, or whatever, restaurants have that intimacy, restaurants have that, that place where someone is gonna take care of you, someone is going to bring you everything you need. And you can focus on your partner,

Francis: 9:12

and it's also a time for you to just talk with your partner. Mm-hmm. You go see a movie, you go see a show, you go hear a band. Right. The two of you are looking at a third thing.

Mark: 9:19

Mm-hmm.

Francis: 9:20

The nice thing about dinner and the nice thing about dancing is you guys look at each other and see, I like ballroom dancing. You know, I think that's like, like. Swing and Ginter. Well, that's,

Mark: 9:29

I mean, that's very sensual as well, you know, dancing with your partner.

Francis: 9:32

It's you and them. Anyway, uh, when we come back, we're gonna be talking with Bunny Crumb Packer. She's the author of The Sex Life of Food. When Body and Soul Meet to Eat, you're listening to the Restaurant Guys, This is Mark and Francis, the restaurant guys from Katherine Lombardi and Stage Left Restaurant in downtown New Brunswick. And our guest today is Bunny Crumb Packer. Bunny's been a professional caterer editor, newspaper columnist, and school public relations officer. She's also the author of two books based on food and recipe pamphlets issued from 1875 to 1950, A Chronicle of American Cooking in those years. So a bit of a historian as well. Um. And her current book is called The Sex Life of Food Racy Title Bunny.

Bunny: 10:08

Well, it's a fun title.

Francis: 10:09

So, so sex sells and, uh, and, uh, I read your book and how could you not with a name like that? Just pick it up. and I love the book, but you talk about a lot more than just, um, sex and food. Where did the title come from? What's your book about?

Bunny: 10:23

Well, thank you for everything you've said so far. The title came from inside my head. It didn't, it it, it's because the book is about, even though it's not always about sex, there are 18 chapters and five of them are about sex, but there's such a, a link between food and sex. It never goes away, and everything that, that we talk about. In relation to food has sex in it somewhere.