Chocolate: More Than Just A Feel Good Factor!

[Guest fountainhall]

At last, some ‘good’ health news. We have known for some time that a glass or two of red wine is good for our health. Now a new study by scientists at Cambridge University has reported that – wait for it! – eating chocolate can also be good for health! As one of the world’s confirmed chocoholics, I am delirious! As the BBC website’s says this morning –

 

Eating high levels of chocolate could reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke . . . Data from 114,009 patients suggested risk was cut by about a third, according to a study published on the British Medical Journal website

.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14679497

 

That does not mean that we should all go out and become binge chocolate eaters, for that can clearly lead to the onset of other illnesses. Nor that those who presently do not eat chocolate should add it to their diets. The British Heart Foundation even says there are better ways to protect the heart.

 

Yet there is no denying the research figures which show that -

 

- the "highest levels of chocolate consumption were associated with a 37% reduction in cardiovascular disease and a 29% reduction in stroke compared with the lowest levels". One of the researchers, Dr Oscar Franco, said chocolate was known to decrease blood pressure.

Even so, this ‘tail’ has other stings, alas -

 

He told the BBC the findings were "promising", but needed further research to confirm any protective effect . . . Victoria Taylor, senior heart health dietician at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Evidence does suggest chocolate might have some heart health benefits but we need to find out why that might be . . . If you want to reduce your heart disease risk, there are much better places to start than at the bottom of a box of chocolates."

Spoilsports!

[Rogie]

One of the researchers, Dr Oscar Franco, said chocolate was known to decrease blood pressure.

 

I think that hits the nail on the head. Chocolate has a pronounced calming effect, simply because it's, as Fountainhall says, so delicious. Much satisfaction is gained by the activity of eating it! It is a well-known fact most people prefer chunky chocolate rather than thin, but aside from that all bets are off. Each to his own. That's why there is such a bewildering choice. Like those shops with many different varieties sold loose behind the chilled counter, but I've never dared buy any - I'd just be too indecisive, I'd take far too long choosing. So as I'm lazy, maybe better to tuck into a branded box, but then I hit another snag, I don't actually like about 25% of them! Maybe choosing my own is the way forward after all.

 

Now, sorry to be another spoilsport, but I think I am right in saying it is only dark chocolate that has these beneficial properties. And we know what snobs dark chocolate-eaters are, don't we? I admit to scrutinising the labels of bars of chocolate on sale to check their level of cocoa solids, opting for the one with the most, only to find it is so bitter I wished I hadn't bothered.

 

I was rummaging around in my dad's freezer recently where he usually keeps a box of choc ices. I spotted two boxes, both from the same brand and both made with dark chocolate. "What's the difference? " to which he pointed out one of them was made with Belgian chocolate. "I'll have that one then!" And very enjoyable it was too.

 

So we can kiss the milk chocolate assortment goodbye, the ones with sugary fillings like caramel or strawberry cream, or my favourite when I was a youngster, the chocolate lime barrel - right yummy that was. In fact, just the ones that actually are delicious. They're bad for you!

[Guest fountainhall]

sorry to be another spoilsport, but I think I am right in saying it is only dark chocolate that has these beneficial properties

I thought you were going to really spoil my day, but when you read the article, it does not specify dark or milky chocolate. Of the study, it says -

 

It didn't explore what it is about chocolate that could help and if one particular type of chocolate is better than another.

We'll find out in future, no doubt. Hopefully, chocolate hasn't killed me by then!

 

You've never made up your own selection? You are missing out on one of life's great joys! I don't know why loose chocolates are so bloody expensive over here. In Hong Kong, just one See's candy is about US$1.50! I was once in Chicago in mid-December when the wind and the temperature outside made it all but impossible to wander out of the hotel. Fortunately, there was a small mall linked to the hotel, and there near the escalator was - a Godiva store. Near heaven! I had the greatest fun selecting 3 raspberry cream, 3 butterscotch, 3 milk chocolate truffle, 3 . . . until I had a supply that should have lasted a few weeks. It was gone in a few days.

 

More recently in the US I went crazy in a See's candy store. What a shame there is no outlet in Bangkok!

[Rogie]

. . . when you read the article, it does not specify dark or milky chocolate.

Having now read the article on the BBC website I agree the jury is out on that.

 

It reminds me of the merits or otherwise of wine drinking and whether one sort is better than another. Ditto beer; is beer good for you? Well, I have my own theories on that and they happen to coincide with my intake - conveniently for me! Then there's the tea versus coffee debate. Also what sort of tea is best - black, green or herbal?

 

One of my favourite theories is the one that factors in tea as one explanation for the successful expansion of cities such as Manchester during the Industrial Revolution. It a beautifully simple one - the benefits of tea-drinking kept the workers healthy! (Other nationalities drink tea too, of course, such as the Japanese, so there were other reasons why the Industrial Revolution took root in the UK).

 

I was once in Chicago in mid-December when the wind and the temperature outside made it all but impossible to wander out of the hotel.

I like the symmetry here. In both the Windy City and the City of Angels (the oriental one) one is encouraged to take refuge in the malls and indulge in the delights therein. Outside of the malls in real life, one place too cold and the other too hot!

[Guest fountainhall]

A true tale.

 

Having made your selection from the array of gorgeous shapes in front of you, you take it in your fingers, gingerly at first, before gently placing it on the tip of your tongue. Ah, the sensation that sets the rest of your mouth a-trembling. You push down more on to this thing of joy that has your oracular senses bursting with juices as it fully enters your mouth and your lips close over it. You savour it, roll your tongue around it, feel its soft outer smoothness

[Guest thaiworthy]

A true tale.

 

Having made your selection from the array of gorgeous shapes in front of you, you take it in your fingers, gingerly at first, before gently placing it on the tip of your tongue. Ah, the sensation that sets the rest of your mouth a-trembling. You push down more on to this thing of joy that has your oracular senses bursting with juices as it fully enters your mouth and your lips close over it. You savour it, roll your tongue around it, feel its soft outer smoothness

[Guest fountainhall]

The ritual and feelings resulting from eating a divine chocolate can be as orgasmic as any other activity! Need I say more?

[Rogie]

The ritual and feelings resulting from eating a divine chocolate can be as orgasmic as any other activity! Need I say more?

I'd stick to the chocolate if I were you.

 

Statistically speaking, the chances of gobbling down a divine chocolate are significantly higher than your 'off' exhibiting any divine status. . .

[Guest fountainhall]

Statistically speaking, the chances of gobbling down a divine chocolate are significantly higher than your 'off' exhibiting any divine status. . .

If this is what you mean by 'divine' status, then I sure will stick to chocolates! (RIP Harris Glenn Milstead aka 'Divine')

[Rogie]

Quite some gal, our Divine.

 

I went with some friends in my student days to see Pink Flamingoes. It was pretty outrageous stuff back then.

 

Taking this topic a little farther, using part of the topic's title, More Than Just A Feel Good Factor, I wonder what it is that makes a man dress up in drag. How does it make him feel? I assume there's a distinct 'feel good factor' going on here? But there must be more to it than that, surely. So I would argue that there is indeed 'more than just a feel good factor' behind it all.

[Guest thaiworthy]

I think this is the best chocolate in the world, (used to be made in Germany, I think), and I kept it in the freezer. Not Godiva or anything fancy, but I've been in love with this stuff since I was a kid, when I could buy them for pennies apiece. Now they cost about a quarter. Can't get it during the summer because it melts during delivery. They come gold or silver wrapped so you might think you're eating money. Better than a Hershey kiss or a sniff kiss for that matter. Move over Gummi bears, I want my Moritz (Albert's) Ice Cubes! The "feel good' factor will go off the chart! Consider instead a 'feel best' factor. This is the common man's opium of chocolate! Try it sometime, IF YOU DARE!

 

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/313YQBzpiXL._SL500_AA300_PIbundle-120,TopRight,0,0_AA300_SH20_.jpg

 

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[Guest fountainhall]

I wonder what it is that makes a man dress up in drag.

I’m going to leave that question up in the air, for I haven’t the faintest idea. But we can lead on from that question to another: what it is about women (and quite a few men, for that matter) that makes them flock like migrating birds to see men in drag? In the UK and quite a number of other countries, Danny La Rue was a huge star with his glittering frocks, extravagant wigs, high heels - they loved him, even when playing the lead role in Hello Dolly! His life was truly as described in his autobiography "From Drags to Riches".

 

And then there is that other drag queen (although she would wallop you over the head with her handbag and a fistful of gladioli if you ever dared call 'her' that), Dame Edna Everage, the character so brilliantly conceived and played by Australian Barrie Humphries.

 

Is it perhaps that there is a long-standing tradition in Britain, at least, of men playing the part of women? This goes way back to Shakespeare when boys always played the women's roles. In the last century, there was also the enormous popularity of the Christmas pantomime with its role-reversals - the Principal Boy always being played by a long-legged lanky girl, and the Dame being played by a well known male personality.

 

Role reversal is not just restricted to the UK, nor to drag. In its early days in Japan, kabuki and other performing arts included men and women on stage. Later, during the Edo Period (basically the last 260 years of the shogun era before Emperor Meiji opened the country up to the outside world in the mid-19th century), the Tokugawa Shogunate forbade women from acting, a restriction that survives to the present day in kabuki. Several male kabuki actors are therefore specialists in playing the onnagata (female) roles, have millions of women fans and have become extremely rich men.

 

And in yet another role reversal, arguably the post popular Japanese entertainment of today are the all-women Takarazuka Broadway-style reviews in which women play all the male roles (although they make no attempt to disguise the fact that they are women playing men!).

 

We live in an interesting, if sometimes confused and confusing, world! And surely it’s some inborn confusion that in part leads a vast number of ordinary men around the world to get their ‘feel good’ factor from cross-dressing? Is theatre therefore just imitating life? Or is life imitating theatre?

[Bob]

I

[Rogie]

And in yet another role reversal, arguably the post popular Japanese entertainment of today are the all-women Takarazuka Broadway-style reviews in which women play all the male roles (although they make no attempt to disguise the fact that they are women playing men!).

That sounded interesting so I went to the Wikipedia entry and found this:

 

Takarazuka's audience

Women make up the primary audience of Takarazuka; in fact, some estimates say the audience is 90 percent female. There exist two primary theories as to what draws these women to Takarazuka. One is that the women are drawn to its inherent lesbian overtones. One author states, “It was not masculine sexuality which attracted the Japanese girl audience but it was feminine eroticism”. The competing theory is that the girls are not drawn to the implicit sexuality of Takarazuka, but instead are fascinated by the otokoyaku (the women who play male roles) “getting away with a male performance of power and freedom”.

 

Favoring the first theory, American Jennifer Robertson observes that lesbian themes occur in every Takarazuka performance, simply by virtue of the fact that women play every role. The audience clearly picks up on it and responds. Within the first ten years of Takarazuka's founding, the audience was vocally responding to the apparent lesbianism. Female fans wrote love letters to the otokoyaku. In 1921 these letters were published and several years later newspapers and the public rallied a cry against Takarazuka, claiming it was quickly becoming a “symbol of abnormal love”. In order to combat this, the producers kept its actresses in strict living conditions; they were no longer allowed to associate with their fans. Robertson mentions a phenomenon of “S” or “Class S” love, a particular style of love wherein women who have been influenced by Takarazuka return to their daily lives feeling free to develop crushes on their female classmates or coworkers. This type of romance is typically fleeting and is seen in Japanese society as more of a phase in growing up rather than "true" homosexuality. Robertson sums up her theory thus: "Many [women] are attracted to the Takarazuka otokoyaku because she represents an exemplary female who can negotiate successfully both genders and their attendant roles and domains.”

 

The competing theory, supported by Canadian Erica Abbitt, is that the female audience of Takarazuka is drawn not exclusively by lesbian overtones, but rather by the subversion of stereotypical gender roles. Japan is a society notorious for its rigid conception of gender roles. While the original goal of the show may have been to create the ideal good wife and wise mother, off stage, on-stage gender roles are, by necessity, subverted. The otokoyaku must act the way men are supposed to act. Abbitt insists that a large portion of the appeal of Takarazuka comes from something she calls “slippage”, referring to the enjoyment derived from a character portraying something they are not, in this case a woman portraying a man. While not denying the presence of lesbian overtones within Takarazuka, Abbitt proposes the cause for the largely female audience has more to do with this subversion of societal norms than sexual ones.

Takarazuka and homosexuality in Japanese society

For a society that has been at least contextually accepting of homosexuality for most of its history, Japan is surprisingly biased against lesbian activity, apparent in Takarazuka's early history. After the scandal of women writing love letters to the otokoyaku and the revelation of an actual lesbian relationship between a otokoyaku and a musumeyaku, Takarazuka greatly limited itself in order to do away with the lesbian image. Women wore militaristic uniforms, heightening the attraction even more among some. In August 1940, the actresses were even forbidden to answer fan mail and socialize with their admirers.

In the years since then, the regulations have relaxed but not by much. There was another scandal when, for the first time, one of the otokoyaku cut her hair short (previously all of the actresses had their hair long and the otokoyaku simply hid their hair under hats).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takarazuka_Revue

 

Since I posted the above, Bob wrote;

 

I'm only guessing but I would think it's the comedy of it. The men in drag I've seen (not all that many, thank god) are usually over the top in the departments of makeup, mannerisms, and outfits (most of them rather hideous in my view). I can't believe there's anything erotic about it for women.

 

Ah, but now we know what Japanese women do find erotic! The heterosexual ones go for whatever passes for the Japanese equivalent of Chippendales and the gay-inclined ones go to Takarazuka.

[Guest fountainhall]

I tend to agree with Erica Abbitt’s theory, as I don’t believe there are actually many lesbian overtones in Takaruzuka performances, any more than there are many gay overtones (although there are some) amongst audiences of the all-male kabuki performances. And I don't believe it has much to do with eroticism.

 

Interestingly, the man who founded the original Takarazuka company wanted a type of entertainment that would be the total opposite of the staid, tradition-ridden all-male kabuki, and so he came up with a very glitzy format that in a sense pre-dated what we now call the Broadway style. It was more Ziegfeld Follies. And whilst the various companies sometimes adapt classic Broadway musicals, most of their work is original in a production style which I feel is more akin to the over-the-top movie musicals of the ‘30s.

 

In much the same way that these movies and Broadway theatres flourished as a form of escapism during the depression-era ‘30s in America, in the first half-century and more since the first Takarazuka performances in 1914, women must surely have relished the chance to get away, even if just for a couple of hours, from prevailing social norms which dictated that they were very much 2nd class citizens, their roles being simply to bear children and obey their husbands. So escapism to a much greater degree than eroticism.

 

 

That theory may seem to fit less easily in the 21st century. After all, the role of some women in Japan has been changing quite rapidly for the last couple of decades, with the younger ones especially enjoying much more freedom than previous generations. Yet Japan is a class-conscious society: you do as the Joneses do (or the Jones-sans do, I guess!). Most square pegs are just rammed into their ill-fitting round holes, for society demands that its people conform. And as long as vast numbers of younger women remain stuck in that rut of male expectations and lack of opportunity, the escapism offered by the Takurazuka performances will likely endure.

 

But none of this gets down to the fundamental question posed earlier by Rogie: what makes a man dress up in drag – how does it make him feel? It can’t be “just for a laugh!” Is it a means of expressing deep, hidden feelings about sexuality? Is it perhaps the manifestation of the female that is apparently in every male’s psyche? What is it that makes one grown man take pleasure in putting on frilly knickers for a few hours, whilst the very thought triggers near revulsion in others?