"Skin me a peach, save the fuzz for my pillow…"

To completely experience a meal, one must engage all five of the senses. When you step into the kitchen, you can hear the sizzle of onions hitting a pan with olive oil; you can smell the veal shanks that have been slowly roasting in the oven for the last three hours; you are tantalized by the sight of beautifully shaped asparagus spears with shavings of parmigiano on them; you can feel the juicy, fibrous mango that dribbles its juices down your chin; and you can taste every last morsel and drop that passes through your lips. The only other human experience that a great meal can truly compare to is sex, for it is one of the few experiences (if not the only other) that engages ALL 5 of the senses…perhaps that is why we have an “appetite” for it.

Josephine Bonaparte carried a violet-scented cachet because she fully believed in the aphrodisiac power of that aroma. The emperor Montezuma drank cup after cup of hot chocolate on a daily basis, also because he believed it to be an aphrodisiac. Hell, even a simple glass or two of wine breeds a penchant for stripping off layers of clothing! Depending on the culture, anything from shark fins to bull’s testicles is claimed to be the ultimate food for inciting carnal love and piquing libidos. But my point here is not to run a litany of gastronomic aphrodisiacs that may or may not be based in any legitimate scientific proof. Instead, I offer up the idea that perhaps it is our approach to food and wine that can inspire and awaken the amorous being in each of us.

Food, much like eroticism, begins with the eyes. Both entice us through appearance, inviting us to indulge. Taste and smell follow right behind, inseparably. The perfume of exquisite cooking can not only make us salivate, but it can also stir our desires. Scent, in fact, is so linked to sensuality, that in many languages the word “kiss” means “smell.” Likewise, the flavor of dark chocolate lingering in the recesses of our mouth is as alluring as the subtle taste of our lover’s skin.

Then, of course, there is what we hear. It may just as easily be the sound of a lover whispering in our ear, or the sound of a champagne cork being popped, and the gurgle of the bubbles hitting the glass. In the same moment, we can take notice of both the clink of silverware on a plate, and the soft murmur and tones of idle conversation carried over those very plates.

Lastly there is touch: the sensation of kneading bread with the entire weight of your body, or the curve of an egg coddled in the cup of your hand all induce a deep pleasure that commences in the core of our being. That sensation, not to be trivialized, is as primal as the caress that entangles two people. So whether it is an oyster slipping from its shell to your mouth, or someone engaging you in a kiss, the sensuality of food is what makes it a turn on, not its chemical properties. Once an amazing meal has been prepared, served and eaten, once the warmth of the wine and spices are pulsing in your blood, and once the anticipation of a kiss enters your soul, only then will you know that anything has the potential and capacity to become an aphrodisiac.

Tagged as: aphrodisiacs