The Fantasy of Hot, Gay, Food
and why galettes are the Zoe Kravitz of desserts
My voluptuous readers,
Happy Pride! It’s June! The start of stone fruit season — and Pride. Coincidence??
While rainbow-hued food, for better or worse, will be making brief appearances on menus across the country, at least here in the Bay Area, beautiful gay food is bountiful year round. But this month, even without food dye, the hot dog and natural wine parties, the oyster shucking in the backyard, and the cheese spread on crackers in the park after a big march are all part of a queer food scene to be proud of. Are any of them aphrodisiacs? I’d say that potentially, during golden hour, Rihanna softly blaring on the speakers, the summer evening heat sending a bead of sweat running down your back, unexpectedly locking eyes with just the right person as they take a bite… absolutely.
Wait, sorry, sorry….so is the food itself sexy? If we need golden hour and Rihanna, does it matter if we’re eating oysters or onion dip? I think so. Arousal, among other things, depends on context; and for me at least, the context often lives on the border between fantasy and reality.
In writing this newsletter and taking a creative approach to aphrodisiacs, it’s occurred to me how much of a food’s sex appeal comes down not to its intrinsic properties, but rather to the image I’ve chosen to share. The vibe, even! The lighting, the silk cloth, the curve of the peach or the saffron noodle… in tandem create a fantasy of seduction and softness, wetness and hardness.
But do I feel that when I sit down and look at the foods in the flesh? Or is the fantasy only accessed once I’ve produced it into a picture to be consumed later, digitally, removed from the experience itself? Sometimes it's true that fantasy is more appealing than reality.
An aphrodisiac can be a a portal to an erotic dreamworld. Sexy Cake, the first issue of Cake Zine, a project by Aliza Abarnel and Tanya Bush, explores the sexual allure of cake — a food that is not objectively sexy in form or figure, but which evokes erotic meaning. In the introductory essay “Let Them Eat Cake,” Aamina Khan writes, “When an endless stream of euphemisms for sex become stale and corny and no longer sexy, dessert has no problem staying relevant…the sensuality of cake feels real and intuitive — the perfectly smooth frosting that beckons like an invitation, the build up before every first cut, the texture, the groans of enjoyment.”
Out of context, a breast is just a breast. A cherry on a tree isn't inherently provocative. It becomes so because of how the cherry is treated; sucked on by crimson lips or ensconced in silky darkness and gripped by a latex glove. Interestingly, a cookie rendered as a penis falls flat as an erotic symbol. In another Sexy Cake essay, “Phallus Fantasy,” Leslie Smith explores a traditional penis-shaped cookie popular in a conservative town in Portugal. “Only through oral consumption can one imagine a phallic cake as more vulgar than jocular… The cartoonish Portuguese penis pastries require a real body to lend them emotional gravitas, whereas a dacquoise, or a supple sourdough alive with microbial spores, doesn’t need a mouth for such evocation.” Indeed, on wet appetite’s instagram, I have struggled to find photographs of food that are sexy without the presence of a sexualized (and therefore politicized) human form; much of “sexy” food photography is still for the male gaze. Queering aphrodisiacs is one solution to that.
Because, by the way? Did you know? Guess what? Pride isn’t just about the queer food scene, and it’s also definitely not about wearing Target’s rainbow suit at a parade backed by corporate sponsors, Chase Sappho-ire Cards and Flaming Gay Cheetos (actually is this a thing? because……)
Stonewall was a BIPOC-led, trans-led riot, a literal life or death fight for the right to exist, to gather, to live full, meaningful lives. Queerness is expansive. And for many, myself included, it’s not just about gender and sexuality but a political identity; an unlearning of the conventional norms that amount to a compulsory racist and heteropatriarchal capitalist society.
Queer food follows suit. In a recent Instagram story, Tony Ortiz, a Brooklyn-based queer chef and founder of the project Chile Con Miel, said of queers working in food: “Our brains are wired different because we have had to endure so many years of going against the grain when all we are told to do is to conform to a hetero dominated society. We have had to create new worlds of fantasy in order to survive which reflects in our menus and plating.”
In this vein, Mediamatic, an Amsterdam-based art center, created a series of queer aphrodisiacs that aim to be both politically aware while still fulfilling their aphrodisiacal purpose. The series aims to “address and counter such hypermasculine aggression and pro-colonial sentiments in the history of aphrodisiacs…aphrodisiacs are more than something which creates a physical effect on the body, they can also be about trust, the mind and how they all interconnect to create arousal.” Offerings include a black darjeeling and goji berry kombucha, spiced quince marmalade, and saliva-fermented wine.
Regardless of how you identify, aphrodisiacs, like everything else in this world, cannot escape the political context in which we exist. And if we are to enjoy them, to add them to our arsenal of attracting, then it’s worth examining: which foods are considered sexy after all? And do I agree?
With that being said, and however you’re choosing to celebrate and/or protest this year, I hope you’re eating luscious dripping peaches, slurping shimmery oysters, and feeling the stickiness of watermelon juice between your thighs when you sit down to take a break from it all.
Cherry, Fig, and Orange Blossom Galette
This galette is what I brought to my Pride BBQ. Why? Galettes are the Zoe Kravitz’s of desserts — effortless, undone, and served hot ;) Desired by sapphos worldwide! The yonic fig, the fragrant and flowery orange blossom, and the iconicly sexy cherry are all natural pairings.
Ingredients
1 pie/galette dough (I use the recipe from Smitten Kitchen)
1 egg
1 lb. cherries, pitted and roughly chopped with a few cherries left in halves
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1 pint figs, halved
1/2 tbsp honey
Splash of orange blossom water
DIRECTIONS:
Make dough. Pre-heat oven to 400°F
Make cherry preserves by putting cherries, sugar, water, lemon, and zest in a large, nonstick pot over medium heat until simmering. Maintain at simmer, stirring frequently, until liquid is reduced by half — about 40 minutes.
To test doneness of cherries, stick a frozen plate in the freezer. At finishing point, put a small dollop on the plate, and stick back in freezer for one minute. At that point, swipe finger through cherry — if it wrinkles, it’s ready. Take off heat and let cool. Most of preserves will be used for galette, but if saving any, they will keep in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.
Toss halved figs in bowl with honey and orange blossom water to taste ( a little will go a long way — the goal is to have it be an essence of orange water, and not to overpower).
Roll out dough. Spread a good amount of cherry preserves, leaving a 2-3 rim of dough uncovered. Arrange figs on top. Fold border over fruit and pinch to close. Whisk an egg with a small splash of water, and brush over crust.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or golden all over and cherries are thick and bubbling. Cool for at least 20 minutes on wire rack.
Enjoy with someone special :~)
Flaming Gay Cheetos made me want Pirate's Hot Booty. A little obvious, but potentially delicious.