Is tiramisu an aphrodisiac? The illicit origins of the Italian dessert born in brothels and fit for playboys and kings
Traced to Treviso, tiramisu is said to have begun as a prostitute’s treat served to reinvigorate clients and keep the sex business ticking over
Did you know Italy’s most beloved dessert is also said to be a powerful aphrodisiac? Laced with sugar and booze, tiramisu is a potent energy bomb that not only tantalises taste buds and lifts the spirit – but can also apparently provide a certain physical excitement.
“The prostitutes loved the new recipe – as did an aristocrat who, after savouring it, had a wild night of passion with the girls until the following morning”
That’s what can be surmised from tiramisu’s decidedly kinky backstory, anyway. There are many tales charting the dessert’s origins, but the most intriguing says it was a prostitute’s treat made inside brothels in the gorgeous northern town of Treviso, in the Veneto region. It was served to reinvigorate clients and keep the sex business ticking over.
“One cold evening in the 1800s at a local inn, a cook had the brilliant idea to mix egg yolk, sugar, coffee, sweet wine and chocolate powder, and pour it over leftover sponge cakes nobody wanted,” explained Anna Maria Pellegrino, a chef and member of Italy’s Tiramisu Academy – an organisation established to “disseminate the true geographic origins and the authentic ingredients for the traditional recipe”.
“The prostitutes who killed time at the tavern loved the new recipe, alongside an aristocrat client who, after savouring it, had a wild night of passion with the girls until the following morning,” added Pellegrino.
To honour the memorable night he had enjoyed thanks to that potent dessert, the nobleman named the creation tiramisu.
“Ever since the middle ages Treviso has been called Italy’s ‘Happy Kingdom’, people loved to have fun and sought pleasure in all aspects of life,” says Pellegrino.