Like Water for Chocolate

So I'm thinking about sex and chocolate and thought this image was in some way appropriate. Obviously, its not just me and Laura Esquival who associate the two.

According to Italian researchers, women who eat chocolate regularly have a better sex life than those who deny themselves the treat. Those consuming the sugary snack had the highest levels of desire, arousal and satisfaction from sex.

(Source: The Times
Date: 14 November 2004)

'In most countries chocolate is associated with romance, and with good reason, it was thought by the Aztec's to have aphrodisiac qualities, invigorating men and making women less inhibited. So when it was first introduced to Europe, it's small wonder that chocolate quickly became the ideal gift for a man to bestow on a loved one.'

(www.globalchefs.com)

More specifically,

Chocolate contains substances called Phenylethylamine and Seratonin, both of which (put simply), are mood lifting agents found naturally in the human brain. They are released into the nervous system by the brain when we are happy and when we are experiencing feelings of love, passion or lust. This causes rapid mood change, a rise in blood pressure and increasing heart rate, inducing those feelings of well being, bordering on euphoria usually associated with being in love. (www.globalchefs.com)

So chocolate can make us feel we are in love. This makes me wonder about the phrase "in love" and the feelings we associate with it. They are so inherently temporary, and yet "falling in love" seems to be what we are looking for according to most media representations of romance. But what happens next? Why do all fairy tales end with happily ever after when the couple is finally together? Why must the lovers finally die in Like Water for Chocolate? Is it because once the chocolate feeling wears off, we don't know what to do with the story? I'd like more stories about how falling in love turns into another love, but would that just not be exciting and euphoric enough?