Love Bites

This corelation between food and sex has been upheld by legend,tradition and now research. Take the androgynous oyster,for example,which likes to spend its adulthood in a state of “inter-sex” limbo (some mischievous species of oysters gamely change their gender from male to female and back again) — personally making them my favorite shell fish,but that’s another column.

Rich in vitamin and mineral content,the oyster contains compounds that aid the release of sexual hormones like testosterone and estrogen,thus enhancing sexual desire. A 2005 study,the results of which were presented at The American Chemical Society Meeting in San Diego,verified what was once thought to be a food myth — oysters do indeed up the mojo! Our bourgeoisie palates may turn away from the bed of ice with its reclining oyster,but food and sex have been friends for a while.

Chef Zubin Mehta,(executive chef,Waterstones Hotel & Club,Mumbai) and author of the book Khanasutra,is my go-to guy in trying to decipher the food-sex connect. After all,he’s spent some time cooking up recipes that tackle everyday sexual juggernauts like,“not tonight,darling”. He starts by correcting me — Casanova didn’t shuck 60 oysters a day,it was 50. Actually,the prescribed dose was four dozen but being the superstitious guy he was (never bedding the 13th damsel,instead settling for sisters),he rounded off the figure to half a century. He also tells me about the more modest mussel eaten widely in his native Goa being a great libido booster.

The appeal of food has to do with gender and what each seeks. Zubin teaches an interesting lesson in anthropology by way of food,but in times when it’s easier to swallow a little blue pill than shuck an oyster,what foods work as aphrodisiacs? The list is quick — aniseed,ashwagandha (ayurvedic herb),chocolate,almonds and game birds,especially the sparrow. As an aside,he tells me that Roman orgies were great for food and drink,

although they are more known for the obvious.

Drink has me turning to Harshal Shah,wine consultant from Australia and patron of “sticky wine”,to get the mojo going. Champagne and romance are synonymous. Champagne and the role it plays in seduction is all very clever and great branding,but is it sexy? Harshal suggests that when sex is on one’s mind,the physical properties of a wine are what matters. Sauternes,for example,a delightfully sweet wine,is a very sexy wine because it’s sticky. What’s with the sticky? I ask. Use your imagination,he laughs. And then I get it: while wine and dine is the definition of modern day courtship,its use has to be more imaginative than down the hatch.

I finally turn to The Chef. After all,he is the definitive voice in my life for all things culinary. He’s listening to Chopin’s Piano Concerto Number One in E minor and has a red scarf on — Valentine’s Day was not too long ago. I ask him for a sexy recipe,something quick and easy to do at home. He gets up,pulling out an old cookbook from deep within the recesses of his shelf. As he turns the pages over,I see that it’s mouldy and squirm. “Unfortunately all my recipes are covered in mould; if they were sexy they would be stuck together!” I am immediately chastised and fix my expression. It’s not the mushroom strudel,he says out aloud and turns another page. But then mushrooms are sexy — in an “I’m not a truffle but I’d like to be” kind of way! And that’s why the recipe he gives me of pastry enclosed scallops with truffles can be replaced with the more easily available mushrooms and made at home.

Armed with my recipe,I am off,but just before I leave,I turn to The Chef and ask him if he knew about Casanova and his oyster shucking. The Chef turns down Chopin and tells me that he once washed back 150 oysters with half a bottle of Chardonnay,all before 8.30am. Wow,I say. “Yup”,he responds,“I passed out on the picnic table and got the worst sunburn of my life!”

(Advaita Kala is an author and has worked in restaurants and kitchens in India and abroad)