Just Had Her Mouth Full: Juliette Oury’s delightful novel explores the links between desire and appetite

Énarque passed by Science Po, Juliette Oury left the desks of the French administration to publish, at the age of 34, a remarkable first novel. Her premise is enough to arouse curiosity: in the dystopian world she presents to us, sex replaced cooking as a social convention. It is therefore a question of “balanced kiss” and follow the recommendations of industry experts, “Vary positions and partners for healthy sexuality”. Even at work, breaks are used to pamper yourself with colleagues! In the evening we go”kiss“We’re going to a friend’s house”on a bench”. Conversely, everything related to cooking is an intimate and absolute taboo. Good people survive on sad “anaromatic bars”, intended to cover biological needs. Only “very hot” couples or teenagers in full puberty secretly prepare tasty dishes. In the evening we go shopping at “Pornoprix” to buy different types of lubricants, while cooking recipes are shamefully consulted secretly, like porn films.

Appetite and desire, two sides of the same coin

The story is told from the point of view of Laetitia, a woman who has been in a relationship with a man, Bertrand, for several years. She thought she was happy but she struggles with more and more difficulties “an obsession that attacked his body and for which he already felt guilty” : appetite. If it takes some time to adapt and immerse yourself in this world and its codes, the writer’s choice to reverse the social roles of sex and cooking works very well, for the good reason that in our society these two worlds are already intrinsically linked. The nastiest emojis are foods, like eggplant, apricots, or peaches. “I want to eat you” or “I’m hungry right now” are pictorial expressions we use to represent our sexual desire. Sometimes we talk about the culinary orgasm after an excellent meal… Not to mention the advent of “pornfood” and its delicious recipes filmed in a very sensual way on social networks.

You have to be inventive to create a dystopia that lasts. And this is where Juliette Oury shows all her talent. ELLE’s cooking cards become “ELLE on the bench” and no longer talk about cooking but about sexual positions to try. The author invents new bourgeois conventions (if you go to “fuck” at a friend’s house, they will undress in front of their guests, as a sign of courtesy) and makes her pen crackle as she describes what Laetitia feels when she comes into contact with new flavors. Ratatouille has never been so sensual! Driven by her irresistible appetite, our heroine will defy the ban and take clandestine cooking lessons in Belleville, a place well known for this kind of… culinary depravity!

“This inversion allows us to shift our gaze, to question conventions and to question our ways of living,” analyzes Juliette Oury on the microphone of France Inter. It is at the same time very funny and quoted (one of the first foods that Laetitia is dying to eat is an apple, that of the curious Eva obviously, on the cover of the novel). But behind the lightness of this tempting comparison, the writer also talks to us about sexist and sexual violence against women.

The desire for emancipation

Juliette Oury describes the mechanisms of control, from the victim’s point of view. We understand quite early in the novel that Laetitia is experiencing a disempowering relationship with Bertrand. The latter treats her like a minor, does not listen to her wishes despite her “good boy” attitude, and has outbursts of anger that force Laetitia to adopt behaviors in line with what he expects of her. An ever stronger dissonance is established. She tries to justify this toxic behavior, tells herself that he knows more than her and luckily he is there to set her back on the right path… However, this desire to eat of her never leaves her. She is amazed at her own audacity, taking cooking lessons behind Bertrand’s back.

The most erotic scene in the novel sees Laetitia succumbing to a piece of chocolate (we know the sensual charge of this food) slipped between his lips by Laurent, his colleague. Two other striking culinary scenes illustrate sexual violence. In one of them, after refusing to eat apples with Laetitia, making her feel guilty for having bought such fruits, Laurent arrives with some canned fish, presumably to please her. He forces his disgusted partner to eat the fish, paying no attention to her body which she says no. In reality he has just fulfilled one of his desires, without the consent of his partner.

Laetitia’s awakening to her own culinary desires allows her to realize that her relationship with Bertrand is making her unhappy. Her uncontrollable appetite acts as her spark that reminds her that she has her desires and brings her out of her inertia. Implicitly, the novel tells us to listen to our bodies and our desires. They can reveal much more to us than we think.