Eating oysters this time of year is a rather pressure-filled event. Every suck or slurp is somehow laden with innuendo as bystanders (or worse, your date) snicker and give off knowing glances about the legendary aphrodisiac. Suddenly an oyster isn't just an oyster. It's a public peep show.
But one man's oyster is another's Cinnabon (yep, the smell of cinnamon is a known male turn-on). What foods get our libidos going are as different as we are.
For the guys, oysters, figs and papayas tend to be popular foods that (do I have to say it?) mimic female reproductive parts. Ginseng supposedly helps with performance.
For the ladies chocolate seems to be a universal, along with honey, raspberries, cucumbers and bananas (stop laughing).
Wine swings both ways, along with whipped cream and anything in syrup form. Avocados have long been suggested to be an aphrodisiac because of their creamy, soft texture and mouthfeel, so don't skimp on the guacamole this Valentine's Day. And while others swear by the lust-inducing power of onions, the inevitable stank-breath will likely end up backfiring.
The reality is that even scientists aren't convinced that any single food truly has the power to turn us on. It's more of a mind game. Anything can be sexy when eaten in bed (though crumbs can contribute to some later chaffing) or fed to a partner with your hands. Think marshmallows dipped in chocolate, sushi or even an ice cube.
Some top picks:
- Sweet Sparkling Wine: Muscato d'Asti is like drinking honeysuckle. This sweet sparkler is best drunk from a lover's shoe. Or possibly drizzled into a bellybutton. Make sure both are clean first, however. (Available at Traverso's)
- Yodel: Remember Ho Ho's? This grown-up version is filled with real marshmallow and cream, covered with chocolate ganache. (Available at Whole Foods).
- Raw Oysters: Crack open some tasty Kumamotos from Hog Island oysters and let the sucking and slurping begin. We're talking about the oysters here.
- Chocolate: Local faves include Annette's Chocolates in Napa, Peter's Chocolates (Sebastopol), Sonoma Chocolatier's and Gandolf's Fine Chocolate (Santa Rosa Farmer's Market).
What's the one food that really gets your engine revving?
Sweetbreads. Nicely sauteed, just browned, with a decadent, rich cream sauce.
It's not exactly that way. That is the foods that turn on the appetite for love. Food chemistry is just the cream on top of the package. You gotta have all the fixin's inside to really make it float.
As the story goes, my first day at a new job, many, many oysters ago, I met my husband. The boss said, "take her and show her around". He did, I followed eating a couple dozen oysters along the way betwitz us. The beginnings of our chemistry, enhanced by lovely sweet & briny, plump, slippery thingies, sublimely sliding through our lips, then swallowed whole, couldn't help but enhance that " somethin' "between us.
These bivalves are our most beloved menage á trois.
Beer! Wait is that a food?
nothing like a glass of port after dinner to get the right mood.
being a chef for 28+ years it's hard for me to see any food sexual, but wine, thats easy.
Chocolate smothered brie from Amy Reiley's aphrodisiac cookbook, "Fork Me, Spoon Me". Add strawberries and a baguette and you have a perfect turn on, especially for the ladies.
Lobster, dripping with butter, champagne to wash it down and, to put me over the top, silky pannacotta...
grilled bacon wrappped medjool dates, heavan!
Squeezing the juice out of a half of a lemon. Most intriguing effect when developed vertically. Rather engaging, actually. Strainer naturally for seeds.
Almost anything that is well prepared and when I am with someone I love. Beef Wellington at LaGare is definitely up there!
"pork is the new Viagra" if only I could convince my wife.