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| Some thoughts (and recipes) on Valentine's
Day which I thought you might
enjoy.
John Ash
"Without bread, without wine, love is nothing."
~ French Proverb
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Food
and Love
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Some
Special Treats for Valentine's
Day!
Food and Love: The
two seem to have always been
connected in an intimate
dance of the senses. Do you
ever think about it and wonder
why the two are so intertwined?
The most memorable (and sensuous)
times of my life have all
been around food. Friends,
lovers and the dining table
are all folded in together
like some great soufflé.
For all of recorded history, claims
have been made that certain foods
increase sexual potency and desire.
I've never found a complete listing
of these, but there must be hundreds.
The Chinese tout shark fin and birds
nest (real ones) soups. The Scottish
swear by haggis, a mixture of minced
sheep innards mixed with oatmeal
and spices and then stuffed into
a sheep's stomach and boiled for
4 hours (Scots obviously have a different
sense of sensuality!). The Aztecs
include cocoa and chocolate (which
interestingly were forbidden to their
women), The Greeks revered pine nuts
according to Ovid, Pliny mentioned
hippopotamus snout and hyena eyes
and every culture seems to have used
oysters. Additionally, caviar, snails
and the eggs, glands and genitals
of all kinds of birds, animals and
fish are said to provide special
powers. Even prunes were so highly
regarded as an aphrodisiac in Elizabethan
times that they were freely served
in brothels.
In the garden, apples, figs, bananas,
cucumbers, leeks, peppers, tomatoes,
avocadoes, eggplant and potatoes
have all been attributed with special
sexual potentials at one time or
another. The obvious connection being
that many of them resemble human
genitalia! Herbs and edible flowers
including roses, lavender, catnip,
passion flower, saffron, savory and
ginseng root have been celebrated
for their special powers.
Anthropologist, Peter Farb, observed
that the association between food
and sex has existed since man started
walking upright. Eating brings couples
into close proximity in a situation
that does not call for defensive
tactics. When you think about it,
eating can bind a couple more effectively
than sex simply because people eat
more often and predictably than they
have sexual relations.
Physiologically our nervous system
deals in a similar way with both
hunger and sexual excitement. We
all have very sensitive structures
called "Krause's end bulbs" that
are found in both the taste buds
of the mouth and in the sensitive
parts of our sexual organs. This
could explain why sexual desire and
a delicious aroma of food both cause
our mouths to water!
M.F.K. Fisher notes in her wonderful
little book An
Alphabet for Gourmets that gastronomy has always been connected
with its sister art of love. Passion
and sex is the "come-and-go, the
preening and the prancing, the final
triumph or defeat, of two people
who know enough, subconsciously or
not, to woo with food as well as
flattery".
Enough of the lore; it's time for
action! Valentine's Day is coming
and here are some recipes to get
you going.
Recipes
Fragolas
Wild Mushroom
Pate
Poached Oysters
with Tarragon Beurre Blanc
Blueberries
and French Cream
Chocolate
Truffle Tort
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