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The saying may go, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”, but what in regards to women? It is a long standing tradition to present a woman with a box of chocolate as a romantic gesture. Is it merely because women love chocolate or does the root of this tradition go deeper? Curiosity led me to do a great deal of exploration on the subject and here is what I found. First of all I wanted to recognise if chocolate was veritably an aphrodisiac. An aphrodisiac is reputed to “put you in the mood for love” and the name comes from the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite. It is possible that the aphrodisiacal calibers come from our own mindset and expectations. First of all, we get a sure amount of pleasure from consuming chocolate. For one, the melting point of chocolate is more or less beneath humane body temperature so it melts in your mouth. That in itself is a stimulating experience but what when it comes to the substances found in chocolate? And what are the roots of chocolate as an aphrodisiac in history? I found a lot of utile data but as you would expect, I found conflicting arguments on whether or not it is an aphrodisiac, so I decisive to come to my own conclusion and I urge you to do the same. One report said that the Aztecs considered all chocolate an aphrodisiac. Because of this, all foods made with chocolate were rigorously forbidden to women. However, another report stated that the Aztecs and Mayans were the primary to recognize the potency of this food, celebrating the harvest with festivals of wild orgies. I guess both could be true (and may be) but it seems to me that if they were having wild orgies, they would want the women to eat it. I don’t know, that’s just my opinion, but in either case, the Aztecs apparently considered it an aphrodisiac. There are persons all around history who also believed in the stimulating calibers of chocolate. In 1624 Johan Franciscus Rauch, a professor in Vienna, condemned chocolate as an inflamer of passions and spurred and encouraged monks not to drink it as he wanted to ban it in the monasteries. It is said that Madame du Barry, courtesan and mistress of Louis XV, always served her lovers a cup of chocolat before they were let in to her bedroom, and that the outstanding lover and alchemist Casanova, who drank his cioccolata at Cafe Florian in Venice, considered chocolate more stimulating than champagne and called it the “elixir of love”. Montezuma supposedly drank a cup of chocolate before entering his harem. Ok, I am convinced that persons in history have found chocolate to be an aphrodisiac, but why? Chocolate holds phenylethylamine, a naturally occurring amino-acid which a great deal of consider to have aphrodisiacal effects and is even said to be capable to “cure” hangovers. Phenylethylamine is a substance which is freed naturally in the humane body when you’re in love. Other stimulants present in chocolate are dopamine and serotonin, which alleviate pain and give hope or courage to a good mood. Serotonin gives rise to sensations of pleasure in a similar way to sunlight. Chocolate likewise holds theobromine, a chemical stimulant often confused with caffeine, but has very dissimilar effects on the humane body. It is a mild, lasting stimulant with a mood bettering effect. Its presence is one of the causes for chocolate’s mood-elevating effects. (Note – In chocolate, theobromine exists in doses that are safe for persons to consume in huge quantities, but may be lethal for animals such as dogs and horses, as they metabolize theobromine more slowly.) Wow, no wonder I love it so much! What more does a person need than a mood elevating, stimulating, pleasurable, not to mention, outstanding tasting, experience? I must mention, however, that some origins state that there is no proof of chocolate having a unfeigned aphrodisiac effect. My opinion, who cares? With all that happening, if it doesn’t put you in the mood, it won’t take much encouragement to get you there. Excuse me, I seem to be craving a good deal of chocolate…… ©2005 Patricia Fason |
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