Chances are your shopping list this Valentine's Day includes oysters, strawberries, chocolate and maybe some pricey champagne or a nice cabernet. If you were a European living several centuries ago, your menu also might include sparrow brains, or if you happened to be a member of the Ming Dynasty you most definitely would be grabbing rhinoceros horn and tiger penis from the local Whole Foods.

Aphrodisiacs have been around for as long as people have been having sex, and before there was a little blue pill those plagued by problems in the bedroom relied exclusively on Mother Nature to get things flowing again.

Today, of course, we’re much more sophisticated and can improve our sex lives with one easy-to-swallow capsule. But we haven’t forsaken natural remedies entirely. We still bathe in mud and exfoliate our faces with seaweed and right around February 14 we look to the kitchen to heat things up in the bedroom. Drink your way to great sex this season with these alcoholic and non-alcoholic love potions around town.

Food: Avocado
Mythology: Thought to be particularly potent because they hang in pairs like testicles, the Aztecs called the avocado ahuacuatl or "testicle tree." Think of that next time you dig into a bowl of guacamole.
Drink: Avocado Boba Milk Tea, a blend of fresh avocado, condensed milk and tapioca pearls
Where: Zen Tea House

Food: Oyster
Mythology: According to the ancient philosophy known as the Doctrine of Signatures or Law of Similarity, if a food looked sexual, it was; oysters were thought to mimic female reproductive organs.
Drink: Oyster Shooters, your choice of bivalves served with Belvedere mignonette
Where: Oceanaire Seafood Room

Food: Chili
Mythology: Chilies generate sweating and increase heart rate and circulation, physiological symptoms that also occur during sex.
Drink: Senor Barriga, a potent cocktail of Corralejo Blanco and muddled lime, sugar, thyme and jalapeno
Info: Xochitl

Food: Cardamom
Mythology: Not only did ancient paramours prize cardamom as a luxury of the spice route, but it’s also high in cineole, which is said to increase blood flow and prevent impotence.
Drink: Mango Sharbat, a non-alcoholic smoothie of mango, lime and green cardamom pods, best mixed with BYOB vodka or rum
Info: Bindi

Food: Licorice
Mythology: Based on a study by the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, the aroma of most licorice types increased penile blood flow (13 percent) in participants.
Drink: Guido, a shot of Sambuca plus a splash of coffee liqueur (another aphrodisiac)
Info: Shouk

Food: Chocolate
Mythology: Legend says that Montezuma drank 50 cups of chocolate everyday to increase his sexual prowess. Today, scientists know that chocolate contains both serotonin and phenylethylamine, brain chemicals associated with love and euphoria.
Drink: Aztec Drinking Chocolate, spiced with clove and cinnamon
Info: Naked Chocolate Café