SEX, FOOD & PERFUMES - PART I

This article will be divided into 2 parts. In the first part I will explore the food metaphors metaphors for sex. In part II you will find out how the tactile experience of using food in sex turned into an olfactive experience to be whiffed on the skin. I hope you enjoy!


Genesis 3:6:7

ו  וַתֵּרֶא הָאִשָּׁה כִּי טוֹב הָעֵץ לְמַאֲכָל וְכִי תַאֲוָה-הוּא לָעֵינַיִם, וְנֶחְמָד הָעֵץ לְהַשְׂכִּיל, וַתִּקַּח מִפִּרְיוֹ, וַתֹּאכַל; וַתִּתֵּן גַּם-לְאִישָׁהּ עִמָּהּ, וַיֹּאכַל.	6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
ז  וַתִּפָּקַחְנָה, עֵינֵי שְׁנֵיהֶם, וַיֵּדְעוּ, כִּי עֵירֻמִּם הֵם; וַיִּתְפְּרוּ עֲלֵה תְאֵנָה, וַיַּעֲשׂוּ לָהֶם חֲגֹרֹת.	7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves girdles.

Since the early beginning of humankind we will find many symbolic connections between food and sex. In the book of Genesis in the Old Testament the serpent tricks Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and to offer it to Adam. By eating the forbidden fruit they discovered they were naked (meaning that they realized they had different sexes and they were attracted to each other in a sexual way) and because they disobeyed God's will they are punished by being expelled from the Garden of Eden. 

If the forbidden fruit was a pomegranate, a citron or a fig, we will never know. But we know for a fact that the forbidden fruit was a metaphor for pleasure and sex; and eating was a metaphor for sexual intercourse. The Old testament uses fruits as metaphors to approach this delicate subject as many ancient texts did in the past.

The historically and universally use of fruits as a metaphor for sex and erotica is linked to the intrinsic sexuality of the fruit itself. According to Ronald Veenker from the Western Kentucky University " Fruit is the reproductive part of the plant – its sexual organs. Fruit is… very colorful and shaped so that it is readily differentiated from foliage. It is attractive to the eye, and tempts one to approach and touch it. Fruit exudes an appealing fragrance, especially strong and irresistible when it is very ripe. Fruit makes an ideal metaphor for sex because the two have quite similar sensual attributes. The sex organs are irregular in shape in comparison to other body parts. They increase in size and change color during sexual arousal, making them more attractive. The odors of the vaginal and seminal fluids also serve to attract and arouse. And the juiciness of both fruit and pudenda is obvious".

In ancient and modern Literature we will also find substitutions or expressions related to food when in fact the authors were speaking of sexual desire, passion and women's vaginal fluids. The list is long: "hunger for" using a verb related to food in substitution for wanting or lusting someone sexually; lover's desires to "eat" their beloved or the expression "devouring" with the eyes; men tasting women's sweet "honey"... just to mention a few.

We also have modern sexual connotations for food that are less sophisticated such as saying a woman pops her "cherry" to mean she lost her virginity or men relating to breasts as melons.



Some foods are directly linked to men's fantasy:
Processed meats such as hot dogs, sausages and winners are considered rather sexual for having phallic shapes; cucumbers, bananas, asparagus, zuchinnis, etc... are also clearly identifiable as male sex symbolism and men just love watching a woman put them into the mouth. Watch Gerard Butler coaching Katerine Heigl how to seduce her date by putting slowly a penis shaped food in her mouth in movie The Naked Truth.

Whipped cream.  Creams in general are constantly used in movies and in advertising as sexual associations with masculine sperm... and since we are mentioning whipping cream, I would like to tell you something very curious I recently learned about cake and sex. Turns out that wedding cakes are a symbol of the feminine sex organ and the act of cutting the cake is a metaphor for defloration. The act of cutting the cake by the bride and groom celebrates the act of making love that can and will be consummated only after marriage. Easy now to explain why we all have an urge to eat moistly creamy cakes!

Creative director of BBDO Paris, Valérie Levy- Harrar shows the sensuality of food in a series of videos called Chromatic Porn Food. She excites us without using a single human model. She plays with our fantasies. Showing how gourmand treats are sensually tasty.

In ROUGE we experience the combination of coffee ( a beverage commonly associated by consumers as masculine and virile) with raspberries - the feminine fruit. Raspberry is known to be related to women's fertility. It also symbolizes fragility and kindness. Lustful ingredients, such as chocolate, melt to create sensual creams. Boiling sugar and the intensity of the color red explore passion and desire.

In ROSE, although more sophisticated than ROUGE, we will find more explicit sexual connotation of intercourse when coffee cream is placed in a phallic pastry cone to be carefully inserted inside the pastry. There is penetration in food my friends!
Here the same masculine ingredient - coffee - will "seduce" and engage in "sexual intercourse" with a very delicate and feminine figure - Petit Chou - the pink French pastry. It is a visual feast of liquids and creams dripping, fire burning and pastries "growing and exploding". ROSE clearly illustrates that food preparing can be very sensual and that food ingredients can be very erotic and arousing.

So far we have seen food as a visual substitute for the forbidden pleasure either implied, imagined, or fantasized. But what about playing with food? Having a tactile sexual experience with them? To use taste and touch to seduce? 

Playing with food is universally forbidden for kids. Parents never liked it and even punished us for doing so. But as grown-ups we are allowed to play with food and use it as a tool of sexual excitement. Some people call it sitophilia.

In 1986 Kim Basinger lived a submissive, sadomaso toxic relationship with Mickey Rourke in Nine and A Half Weeks. The steamy scenes had a level of explicitness that is remembered till today. The sex scene in front of the refrigerator was probably reproduced in many other kitchens all over the world.

Mickey seduces Kim with her taste buds. With her eyes closed he inserts in her fleshy sensual mouth all kids of foods that have sexual connotations or shapes, such as dripping cherries, strawberries, jalapenos peppers and Jello. There are also scenes of liquids coming from her mouth such as wine, cough syrup and milk. The milk scene by the way is very erotic because Kim's close up licking it out of her face implies a blow job with coming-in-the-mouth fantasy. And the final touch is the honey. Mickey pours honey into on her tongue saying that he is going to put it right on the spot. He spreads honey on her knees and inner legs and finally after seducing and dominating her with food, they have sex.

The success of the movie is intrinsically related to the fact that AIDS was the great villain of the 80's and at that time people were either scarred of having sex or trying to get used to the fact that they could only have it if using condoms. So in order to spice up the act and make it more pleasurable, food played an important role in seduction. 

In the 90's manufactures launched condoms with taste in order to reinvent condoms and encourage the population to use them while having oral sex.

Comedian Carrie Snow once said that if God was a woman sperm would taste like chocolate. Well, it doesn't and if it did we wouldn't probably be here;-). But if you like chocolate or BACON (YES, BACON!) flavored penises your man can use a flavored condom. As shocking as it may sound to you J&D company invented the bacon flavored rubber.

Soon lubes, massage creams, stimulating oils, sexual enhancers and all sort of flavored balms and gels were successfully launched in the market for extra oral pleasure. The vast array of slippery flavored products are countless. Some of these tantalizing creams are advertised as EDIBLE creams.

But how to explain this sexual relationship that we have with food? Is it biological?

My guess is that it is evolutionary. As all carnivore animals, we are all hunting - mating beings. That said, he who brings the food gets to mate with the female. Food and sex were and still are the main factors of human survival in this planet, therefore the ability to supply food establishes an economic partnership between a male and a female in which men demonstrate how well they are able to provide and take care of themselves and their future offspring.

To be continued soon...

In PART II I will continue to explore the relationship between food and sex and understand how and why gourmet fragrances are so successful. I am also going to bring the unusual scents available in the market today with funny, shocking and "tasty" smells.

Meanwhile I would like to invite you to reflect a bit about the subject!