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It's Valentine's Day, when couples all over the world plan special dinners and desserts to "get in the mood," as it were. Indeed, in the Western World, our sole holiday celebrating love and romance has its own concomitant food culture: chocolates, strawberries, oysters, caviar and red wine are all intrinsic to Valentine's Day menus because of their reputation for being aphrodisiacs — meaning food that can, supposedly, make one feel more amorous.
The idea that some food or drink are aphrodisiacs dates back millennia: The ancient Greeks believed in the sensual power of pomegranates, truffles and garlic; the ancient Roman poet Ovid recommended everything from eggs to "honey from Mount Hymettus" (a range in the Athens area) to get into the mood; and the medieval philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas argued that meat and red wine could produce the "vital spirit."