Want to give your sweetie a really special treat? Skip the crowded restaurants this Valentine’s Day in favor of a romantic night in for just the two of you. Pick up some flowers and maybe a bottle of wine, light some candles and let the sparks fly!

Valentine’s Day’s origins are a bit blurry, but some historians trace the holiday back to Roman times. Culinarily speaking, there’s little information on what fertility-enhancing foods the Romans indulged in, though odds are good it wasn’t chocolate packaged in heart-shaped boxes.

Of all the romantic symbols associated with Valentine’s day, the most indulgent might be lingerie. The word alone conjures images of lace, frills, and bows, but the ancient Greeks and Romans wore fashioning simple, utilitarian garters and corsets millennia before Victoria’s Secret entered the scene. Though the French word “lingerie” originally meant “things made of linen,” today, much of it is made from silk, which requires the killing of silkworms to harvest the thread from their cocoons. This Valentine's day, why not slip into something a little bit kinder.

The traditional pairing of chocolate and romance on Valentine's Day is a perfect union, as the simply act of consuming chocolate evokes a multi-sensory, sensual experience: its intoxicating aroma, the way it melts slowly and softly on the tongue, its rich color, its heavenly flavor. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner—it’s time to decide which decadent, chocolaty indulgences to gift to your special someone or pick up to treat yourself to. But before your reach for that traditional heart-shaped box, you should know that not all chocolates are created equal, especially if you're shopping for a vegan valentine.