When it comes to aphrodisiacs, our eat mode today is pretty common: wine, chocolates, cherries, good food, cocktails, the whole nine yards of gourmet dining. But ever wondered what would our ancestors’ love feast look like? How did they eat for the mood?
Chances are even with our wider choices of lustful delicacies today, we would only be scraping the veneer of the dossier that included everything from the herbs and roots that really worked to ingredients that were believed to work and food that was had because of their semblance to human anatomy. One such ingredient was the avocado. A prized possession since the Aztec era — its creamy texture made it an all-rounder tastemaker of Aztec cuisine — such was its association as a pleasure-inducing food that women were barred from harvesting the fruit or even extracting the pulp, lest they would fall for the charm of the fruit that was known to invoke sensual desires.
Coffee was another casualty of such a belief. It is said that the reason behind Sultan Murad IV banning coffee, a “pleasure drink” in the court, was the sense of control it gave to the women in the kingdom — and a voice to their desires. Fascinatingly, not all love potions through history had the same fate. Aphrodisiacs in ancient time were designed specifically for two things: one, as a cure to any fertility-related condition; and two, as a potion that would help the body and mind to cool down.
This perhaps explains why most love potions of the ancient civilisation were either a balm or a form of concoction like the Indian soma or as some form of tonic, be it the Persian Sir Torshi, a pungent tonic made of fermenting garlic in vinegar, or the Middle Eastern iteration of Eggnog, where a large quantity of raw egg yolk was mixed with ginger that was had as a cure to male impotency according to The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight a late medieval Arabic erotic manual. Incidentally, that was just the tip of the crazy love food iceberg that our forefathers dug into for their carnal pleasures. They went to outrageous lengths to ensure their phallus remained well-oiled and ready for action. And this included 50 cups of bitter Mexican hot chocolate that Aztec king Montezuma II gulped down the day he planned to enter the harem.
A feat that Tudor king Henry VIII achieved with his grail of fruit, which he had constantly filled during the day, even before going to bed, and Madame de Pompadour — the longest-reigning mi amor of French Monarch Louis XV — did with bowls of celery soup. Story has it that even the famous ladies’ man, Giacomo Casanova hailed celery soup and two dozen oyster to be behind his sexual stamina. A similar claim was also made by Emperor Nero for sumac, which was turned into this rosy lemonade that flowed freely in his drinking parties and otherwise. In fact, Greek Physician Pedanius Dioscorides, who developed the concoction as part of tonic for better sexual health called the drink the “pink love” thus setting the long colour association. Centuries later, this association of colour and love (lust and sex) was revived and reset with the Mughals. The fruit loving emperors took a liking to not only red-hued fruits and foods but also advocated them as a tool to sensual pleasures. At the forefront of this of course were figs, pomegranate and beets with mangoes and the paan making to the list soon enough.
In fact, the original Rooh Afza — a drink made of herbs, saffron, honey and roses (especially pink and red) — was initially developed not just as a refreshing sherbet but took on the form of a love potion during the time of tippler loving Emperor Jahangir. But not all preferred such sublime mode of love food (and potion). The beauty of aphrodisiac food, says culinary revivalist Chef Sabyasachi Gorai, who has worked extensively on the food practices of Indus Valley and after, “is that while the choices, presentation and the style of consumption varied from one era to the other, the purpose was constant: fertility — which was a key part of existence. And men (and women) tried every solution to upkeep that: whether it was food that was warm and moist and windy that according to Roman physician Galen worked on erection and its ability to perform better or drink tonics made of animal sexual organs and their blood as a natural Viagra.” Such was the want to find that warming up ingredient that the denizens of Indus would consider barley, an aphrodisiac and even had dishes, says Chef Gorai, “that allowed them to feel all gooey, happy and sensual. One such dish was a simple honey-laced barley porridge. Another was a pork dish where the meat was cooked with young ginger, nutmeg and honey served along with rice balls made of Shashtika cooked with gram and raisins. In fact, salt that made its debut much later was also considered an aphrodisiac given the pleasure palates it would play by making food tastier.”
But did these foods really work? While there is little research to substantiate that, as part of a carefully put together meal, says nutritional therapist Sveta Bhassin, “these mood foods not only completed the nutritional requirement of a person but when not overindulged in, did ensure a good blood flow to those fronts of the body giving one the sense of feeling aroused. Most dishes and tonics, however, also had that placebo effect, which made people calm, happy and reciprocative to the idea of a good time — which usually meant carnal pleasure. Thus, the lure of aphrodisiacs.”