Sensuality of course involves far more than just sex or the random walk of the libertine. Sensual pleasures are available from the Beethoven string quartets, from a rose garden (I have Honor, Golden Scepter, Love, and Arizona in my own garden), and from the sight of a Vermeer painting--or a sunset. And from food:
Food can be a wonderful lover if you allow it to resonate within you and if you pay close attention to your body’s responses. A friend recently said to me, “I see expertly prepared cuisine as a lover that never disappoints. I embrace the pleasure she brings to my life; I sing her praises; I admire her. She is one of life's greatest pleasures.” I’m trying not to think about how good he must be in bed.
That's Jennifer Iannolo, in "On Food and Sensuality," her latest column for The Atlasphere. To make her case, she employs peaches, oysters, cream soup with truffles (they smell like sex, she says), and more:
During a recent cooking class, I was enamored with the sight and texture of a decadent custard we had just prepared. As I drizzled the pearlescent yellow cream over a dish of succulent strawberries, I couldn’t help but to comment aloud, “This, right here, is sex on a plate.” There were some puzzled looks.
Ayn Rand writes in Atlas Shrugged that sensuality is "a fine discrimination of the spirit." Jennifer's article provides a good illustration of that point.
You can find Jennifer online at Jennifer's Gastronomic Meditations, which I've added to "Websites" over on the right. Pay attention to what she tells you there about tomatoes. And no, I am not trying not to think about how good she must be in bed.
Posted by Craig Ceely at April 25, 2004 01:36 PM