Sexuality

Love in a bottle

Kenneth Hyman | March 14, 2011

Kenneth Hyman owns Native Vine in Point Harbor. Visit his website: www.nativevine.com.

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Yes we are talking love, passion and sex here, and where those feelings come from! We all are born with the ability to feel attracted to others. But sometimes we want a little help.

Throughout history many societies have revered the strongest and most virile men and the most beautiful and fertile women (yes the concept of “beauty” differs quite extremely from culture to culture and time period to time period). In the quest for virility and fertility, societies have looked around them to find things that they believed would help them. We call these “things” aphrodisiacs, named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and sexuality.

Aphrodisiacs are most often things that we eat or drink. Though the scientific world, especially in Western medicine, offers little evidence of their effectiveness, aphrodisiacs are treasured throughout the world to this day. While the power of suggestion is an extremely powerful component of aphrodisiacs (you’re only as sexy as you feel), many would argue that there is more than the “placebo effect” at work.

One of the biggest obstacles to overcome in matters of love and passion is being inhibited . . . ”You can’t win if you don’t play” as they say. A glass of wine or beer goes a long way here, lowering inhibitions, raising courage levels. This makes alcohol, in moderation, an obvious aphrodisiac.

Things that we eat are usually considered aphrodisiacs because of their smell, nutritional value or similarity in shape to body parts. The smell of vanilla, cinnamon, honey, truffles and saffron are all thought to have arousing effects on the body. Ingesting oysters, lamb and other items high in zinc content is thought to increase sexual desire, since zinc is important in the formation of sexual hormones, particularly testosterone.

Oysters and other foods like avocados are visual stimulators because of their similarity to human body parts. It is said the Mayan civilization would not allow the village virgins outside during the avocado harvest!

Unfortunately, there is also the belief in many cultures that ingesting part of certain animals will impart the strengths of that animal to the person. This has lead to the unnecessary killing of many tigers and rhinoceroses simply for a few prized body parts.

Ultimately, you don’t really have to believe in the power of aphrodisiacs to have fun with them. The world of aphrodisiac foods is full of delicious items that can be easily sourced and made into a fun meal to be shared with a loved one over a glass or two of wine, champagne or beer. Here are some recommendations on pairings:

Fried or raw oysters with . . .
Sparkling wine, Gloria Ferrer “Va di Vi” $19.99 — lemony with pretty tropical notes.
Muscadet, Dom. Quilla $11.99 — dry and steely with touch of lime.
Cederberg Bukketraube $16.99 — somewhere between a Sauvignon Blanc and a Riesling. Trust me on this one!
Sam Smith’s Pure Lager, $9.99/4pack — a clean lager with “attitude.”

Guacamole with . . .
Dry rose, Grand Cassagne $9.99 — dark grenache/syrah blend.

Dark chocolate brownies (yes chocolate is definitely an aphrodisiac) with . . .
Lambic, Lindeman’s Framboise $9.99/750ml — sweet and sour raspberry.
Rhone red, Ch. D’Or et de Gueles $13.99 — grenache blend with lots of raspberry notes.

Parmesan reggiano drizzled with honey with . . .
Dessert wine, Torbreck “The Bothie” $18.99 — light sweetness goes great with saltiness of cheese and sweetness of honey.

Belgian white, Unibroue Blanche de Chambly $5.99/750lm — spice and slight sweetness pick up honey and salty reggiano beautifully.

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