Baked goods have been found to have such positive associations for Americans that some businesses, using a growing strategy known as aroma marketing, pump the scent of chocolate chip cookies or other pleasant odors through their establishments to create happy feelings that they hope will lead to spending.
The nostalgic recall triggered by odors, known as the Proustian Effect, has been embraced by some chefs who believe that eating should be a full-sensory experience, involving taste, smell and even sound.
Heston Blumenthal, of the Fat Duck in Bray, England, invites diners to write down childhood food recollections and uses those musings for inspiration for future dishes. Grant Achatz, of Alinea in Chicago, has served food on charred logs, in a veil of eucalyptus leaves and on pillows filled with air scented by lavender, coffee or juniper. He pours hot water over hay and uses the liquid to conjure the memory of fall hayrides (or, perhaps, a roll in the hay, depending on the diner).
Those restaurants seem unlikely to put together a Valentine’s Day menu, but those that do would be well advised to round out the romance with a little common sense.
At Bar Americain in Manhattan, for instance, the lover’s lineup will include oysters with mint mignonette; spice-rubbed filet mignon with hash browns and steak sauce; and red velvet cake.
Amy Reiley, a restaurant consultant and cookbook author who specializes in sensual food and wine, said she appreciated the inclusion of oysters and mint. But, she said, “this is the kind of meal that makes you want to fall asleep afterward, not do the horizontal cha-cha-cha.”
Similarly, the dinner planned at MidAtlantic was “wayyyyy too heavy for a pre-coital celebration,” she wrote in an e-mail message. In addition to the doughnut dessert, it featured oysters, steak, potatoes, cauliflower gratin and, in her opinion, too much protein and starch to leave a diner with enough energy for other pursuits.
Reiley, the author of a recipe book structured like The Joy of Sex, suggests that restaurants wanting to serve truly carnal cuisine go with guacamole, not only because avocados have long been considered aphrodisiacs.
“To me, one of the most successful attributes of an aphrodisiac meal are colors, aromas, tastes and textures that wake up the palate and challenge the mind,” she said. “Guacamole, in the ways it is typically served, offers a silky foil to crunchy chips, a cool, slippery and sexy topping for spicy burritos and tamale pies.”
She also likes to use lots of saffron, mint and vanilla, all ingredients she considers aphrodisiacs, and, of course, chili pepper.
And as Reiley writes in the cookbook: “Wine is an aphrodisiac. There it is. In a nutshell.”
But anyone acting on that tip should also keep in mind Shakespeare’s warning in Macbeth: Alcohol “provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.”
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