Cross-cultural aphrodisiacs

[DonJunbar]

Over here in Korea, there are a lot of foods that are considered aphrodisiacs. Dog, for one, is supposed to enhance male stamina, which is why mainly men eat it. There are a lot of other foods believed to have an effect on sexual stamina too, mainly the ones that come in long, cylindrical form, such as mushrooms and various vegetables. It's obvious with most of these this belief comes from the phallic shape of the food. Hearing about this usually makes most foreigners uncomfortable.

Then I looked over at the list of foods westerners commonly consider aphrodisiacs. To name a few:
# Asparagus
# Oysters
# Bananas
# Strawberries

I've checked and there doesn't seem to be any legitimate research out there that explains why oysters would be an aphrodisiac, just that they have amino acids, or zinc, but no explanation of why this would work.

Do any of you believe in food aphrodisiacs? Looking at it, I have a hard time believing our aphrodisiacs are any less zany than some of the Korean ones.

[El Greco]

Hehe. AFAIK there's no sensible reason for everything that's considered to be aphrodisiac around the world. It all has to do with faulty extrapolating. Eg, the rhino horn has been considered aphrodisiac because rhinos have sex for a loooong time.

Here, the "official" aphrodisiac is walnuts with honey :D (which has probably something to do with the combination of energy-packed food and sweetness).

[dogjones]

The oyster thing is really only due to their shape and texture, which is like... you know.:shy:

[ponderingturtle]

Appearance or sexual connection seems to be the reason why things are concidered aphrodisiacs.

Bannana's and strawberrys have a connection to a phalus.

In china bulls penis is concidered a treatment for erectile disfunction.

As for rhino horn I would suspect it is like way tigers and lions and bears often are associated with aphrodisiacs, they seem to be very masculine animals. Or rather demonstrate what people think of as masculine.

[Moochie]

The oyster thing is really only due to their shape and texture, which is like... you know.:shy:

:what:

M.

[Mashuna]

Appearance or sexual connection seems to be the reason why things are concidered aphrodisiacs.

Bannana's and strawberrys have a connection to a phalus.

In china bulls penis is concidered a treatment for erectile disfunction.

As for rhino horn I would suspect it is like way tigers and lions and bears often are associated with aphrodisiacs, they seem to be very masculine animals. Or rather demonstrate what people think of as masculine.

I don't want to get too personal here, but. . .strawberries? Really?

[ponderingturtle]

I don't want to get too personal here, but. . .strawberries? Really?

Look at a glans.

[fuelair]

Over here in Korea, there are a lot of foods that are considered aphrodisiacs. Dog, for one, is supposed to enhance male stamina, which is why mainly men eat it. There are a lot of other foods believed to have an effect on sexual stamina too, mainly the ones that come in long, cylindrical form, such as mushrooms and various vegetables. It's obvious with most of these this belief comes from the phallic shape of the food. Hearing about this usually makes most foreigners uncomfortable.

Then I looked over at the list of foods westerners commonly consider aphrodisiacs. To name a few:
# Asparagus
# Oysters
# Bananas
# Strawberries

I've checked and there doesn't seem to be any legitimate research out there that explains why oysters would be an aphrodisiac, just that they have amino acids, or zinc, but no explanation of why this would work.

Do any of you believe in food aphrodisiacs? Looking at it, I have a hard time believing our aphrodisiacs are any less zany than some of the Korean ones.

Zinc: faster sexual maturation (more exactly, low/no zinc means delayed/very delayed sexual maturation). Needed for testosterone production and to help prevent conversion of testosterone to estrogen.:)

[DonJunbar]

Personally I would've connected strawberries to female sexuality.

Ahem, anyway...

Maybe just the shape of these foods is the important factor in stimulating...stimulation. It could be entirely Freudian and have little to no chemical rationale.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

:what:

M.

He said it looked like a bearded clam :p

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

There is one real aphrodisiac. It's called alcochol.