Why Is Garlic Offensive?

[GOD]

garlic.jpg
I would like to go back and track down who decided that garlic, be it plain old garlic or *gasp* garlic breath was somehow offensive and pick their brain about this travesty. Is there something about the pungent flavor that had someone feeling insecure about their manhood, perhaps jealous somehow? Was it someone who didn't have free access to it deciding it offensive to hide their longful yearning to have it in every meal, shunning those who had it? Or does the strong odor just harsh a mellow so much that it's deemed offensive? It's time for people to throw social norms to the wayside and take back garlic as the wonderful and amazing bulb that it is. Besides,who wants to brush their teeth or eat tic-tacs after a nice garlicky Italian meal?

Breathe on brothers and sisters, breathe on.

[Bas]

Garlic is greater than life. GREATER!!!!

[StupidMonKey]

Garlic is good. My grandparents used it in a lot of stuff when I grew up. However, it can be overused just like any other ingredient and you must take note that it will overpower less "offensive" ingredients. Balance is key but there is no reason to hate.

*am not fond of garlic breath because it can be very strong but so can onion, coffee, cola, orange juice, etc.

[StupidMonKey]

Actually I hate coffee breath more than any of those.

[Trolly]

A culinary corner stone. God bless it

[Beets]

if i was gonna guess i'd reckon it would be down to the english/ french conflicts and the fact that historically the french have eaten a lot of garlic

and the fact if you havent eaten it it is a strong odour.... i dunno i like it though

also



Is garlic friend or foe? When raw, garlic exhibits a strong fragrance and sharp taste, but when it is cooked, garlic becomes mellow and sweet. It is valued by some people for its potential medicinal benefits and vilified by others for its effect on breath and body odor. Even though it is a vegetable, garlic is usually only enjoyed in relatively small quantities, often used more for its flavoring ability than its nutritional value. Although associated more with the regions of France along the Mediterranean Sea, garlic is found in the cooking of most of France.

Whether garlic was introduced to France by the Romans, brought back to France during the crusades, or a native of French soil is not known for certain. (I think it was introduced by the Romans.) Pliny the Elder1 discusses garlic at some length in his work Naturalis Historia, published in the year 77. He states that it “is generally supposed, in the country more particularly, to be a good specific2 for numerous maladies.”3 Later, in a chapter entitled “Garlic: Sixty-One Remedies,” Pliny writes, “Garlic has very powerful properties, and is of great utility to persons on changes of water or locality. The very smell of it drives away serpents and scorpions, and, according to what some persons say, it is a cure for wounds made by every kind of wild beast, whether taken with the drink or food, or applied topically. Taken in wine, it is a remedy for the sting of the hæmorrhoïs [a type of serpent] more particularly, acting as an emetic. We shall not be surprised too, that it acts as a powerful remedy for the bite of the shrew-mouse, when we find that it has the property of neutralizing aconite,4 otherwise known as ‘pardalianches.’ It neutralizes henbane,5 also, and cures the bites of dogs, when applied with honey to the wound. It is taken in drink also for the stings of serpents; and of its leaves, mixed with oil, a most valuable liniment is made for bruises on the body, even when they have swelled and formed blisters.”6 Other uses include “as an aphrodisiac, beaten up with fresh coriander, and taken in pure wine. The inconveniences which result from the use of it, are dimness of the sight and flatulency; and if taken in too large quantities, it does injury to the stomach, and creates thirst.”7 And for use in animal husbandry, “Beasts of burden, it is said, will void their urine all the more easily, and without any pain, if the genitals are rubbed with garlic.”8 Other than describing the flavor of garlic as “pungent” and “Like the onion, it imparts an offensive smell to the breath; but this is not the case when it is cooked,”9 Pliny does not discuss the use of garlic as food, he does comment extensively, however, on how to best grow garlic.

In the early middle ages in France, “onions, leeks, and garlic played an essential part in the peasant’s daily diet.”10 The earliest mention of garlic in a French cookbook seems to be in 1306, where it is one of five herbs and vegetables used—the others being onions, parsley, hyssop, and sage.11 Later books include the occasional use of garlic, but it is not until the nineteenth century that the use of garlic as a principal ingredient in dishes becomes common. Considering that the medieval diner valued strong flavors along with bright colors,12 it is surprising that garlic did not seem to play a larger role. Maybe garlic was considered only peasant food and cookbooks of the period, and indeed for a number of centuries after, concerned themselves only with the culinary habits of nobility and the upper classes. Then again, maybe the reluctance came from garlic’s reputation with regards to breath and body odor.

In 1850, one American described being at an event in Paris in the evening where “a crowd of artisans in dirty blouses, smelling vehemently of cheese and garlic” had gathered.13 Dumas, in Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine (published posthumously in 1873), presents a more neutral observation about garlic.

A bulbous vegetable whose cloves are used as a seasoning.

Everyone is familiar with garlic, and particularly conscripts, who use it to obtain a discharge. Its bulb contains a bitter and volatile juice, which brings tears to the eyes. If put on the skin, it reddens it and even produces a grazed effect on it.

Everyone recognizes the smell of garlic, except the person who has eaten it and who has no idea why everyone turns away when he approaches. Athenaeus recounts that those who ate garlic never entered the temples consecrated to Cybele. Virgil talks of it as a plant which is useful to harvesters in increasing their strength during periods of great heat; and the poet Macer as a deterrent against their falling asleep when there are snakes to be feared. The Egyptians adored it; the Greeks, on the contrary, detested it. The Romans ate it with pleasure, but Horace, who on the very day of his arrival in Rome ate and got indigestion from a dish of sheep's head with garlic, hated it.

Alphonso, King of Castile, disliked garlic to such a point that in 1330 he founded an order, the statutes of which laid down that those knights who had eaten garlic or onion could neither appear at court nor communicate with the other knights, for at least one month.

Provençal cooking is based on garlic. The air in Provence is impregnated with the aroma of garlic, which makes it very healthful to breathe. Garlic is the main seasoning in bouillabaisse and in the principal sauces of the region. A sort of mayonnaise is made with it by crushing it in oil, and this is eaten with fish and snails. The lower classes in Provence often lunch on a crust of bread sprinkled with oil and rubbed with garlic.14

Two decades later, another author provided her insight to garlic.

Garlic, which hardly can be liked because of the way in which it scents the breath of its lovers; garlic, which the poet Horace endeavored to dishonor in a famous ode and that which our poet Méry, in burning stanzas, celebrated the expensive scented cloves in Marseilles and through the Midi, the garlic liked by Henri IV and Napoleon 1st, has, each one must acknowledge it, a most unpleasant stench. Without emphasizing the influence on digestion that certain authors award to garlic, it stimulates, like tomato, sweet pepper and gherkin, the functions of the stomach. The people of Bordeaux and the Midi prefer shallots to garlic, but it is necessary to praise the appreciable flavor it adds to a leg of lamb. With respect to garlic, moderation is essential.15

Today, the French are not large consumers of garlic. In 2005, the daily per capita consumption of garlic was about 1.54 grams, or about a teaspoon of minced garlic per day per person. In per capita consumption, they ranked 82nd out of 163 countries. Spain at 2.39, the United States at 2.33, and Italy at 2.02 consumed slightly more. Switzerland at 0.95, Belgium at 0.78, the United Kingdom at 0.56, and Germany at 0.50 consumed a bit less. From a peak of 2.39 grams per person per day in 1993, per capita consumption of garlic in France has steadily declined—by about one-third in twelve years.16

About two-thirds of the garlic consumed in France is imported, most likely from China, the producer of three-fourths of the world’s garlic. The garlic in France has either a white, purple, or pink skin.17 French garlic tends to have a thin skin, and the imported garlic tends to have a thick, white skin.

For the most part one does not just eat garlic as a garniture (side dish), although there are a couple of exceptions. Often garlic is used just as a flavoring for other dishes:

eau d’ail
garlic water

beurre d’ail
garlic butter

essence d’ail
garlic essence

poudre d’ail
garlic powder

huile d’ail
garlic oil

ail rôti au four
oven-baked garlic

Sometimes garlic is used as the basis of a sauce:

vinaigrette à la crème d’ail
garlic-cream vinaigrette

sauce à la crème d’ail
garlic-cream sauce

vinaigrette aux ail et échalotes
garlic-shallot vinaigrette

sauce aïoli
garlic mayonnaise

Sometimes garlic is used by itself as a bit of decoration:

copeaux d’ail
garlic chips

l’ail confit
slow-cooked garlic

Sometimes garlic is a major flavor in a dish:

tourain
garlic soup

œufs à l’ail
hard-cooked eggs with garlic

œufs au plat à l’ail confit aux aromates
fried eggs with spicy, slow-cooked garlic

cubes de thon dans une crème d’ail
half-cooked tuna with a garlic-cream sauce

purée de pommes de terre aillée
garlic-flavored mashed potatoes

épinards aillés
spinach with garlic

carottes dorées à l’ail
carrots browned with garlic

There is but one traditional way, that I am aware of, that garlic is served as a side dish:

purée d’ail
garlic puree

Garlic can provide a flavor that is very subtle or a flavor that is powerful; either way, the flavor is delightful. If your breath becomes a bit foul after consuming a bit of garlic, just think of how flat the dish would have been without it.
1.
Gaius Plinius Secundus (23-79), Roman author, philosopher, and military commander. Wikipedia, cited 24 April 2007.
2.
The translators added a note to the term specific: “It was thought to have the property of neutralizing the venom of serpents; and though persons who had just eaten of it were not allowed to enter the Temple of the Mother of the Gods, it was prescribed to those who wished to be purified and absolved from crimes. It is still held in considerable esteem in the south of Europe, where, by the lower classes, great medicinal virtues are ascribed to it.” The Natural History of Pliny. Translated, with Copious Notes and Illustrations, by the Late John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., and H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Late Scholar of Claire Hall, Cambridge. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1856, vol. IV, page 174-5.
3.
Natural History, vol. IV, page 174.
4.
“A genus of poisonous plants, belonging to the family Ranunculaceae. esp. the common European species Aconitum Napellus, called also Monk’s-hood and Wolf’s-bane. Also applied loosely or erroneously to other poisonous plants.” aconite, n.1. The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press, 1989 (OED Online, 4 Apr. 2000), cited 24 April 2007.
5.
“The common name of the annual plant Hyoscyamus niger, a native of Europe and northern Asia, growing on waste ground, having dull yellow flowers streaked with purple, viscid stem and leaves, unpleasant smell, and narcotic and poisonous properties; also extended to the genus as a whole.” henbane, n.1. The Oxford English Dictionary, cited 24 April 2007.
6.
Natural History, vol. IV, pages 225-6.
7.
Natural History, vol. IV, pages 228.
8.
Natural History, ibid.
9.
Natural History, vol. IV, pages 175.
10.
Massimo Montanari, Production Structures and Food Systems in the Early Middle Ages, in Jean-Louis Flandrin, Massimo Montanari, & Albert Sonnenfeld (eds.), Food: A Culinary History from Antiquity to Present. New York: Penguin Books, 1999, page 173.
11.
Barbara Ketcham Wheaton, Savoring the Past: The French Kitchen and Table from 1300 to 1789. New York: Scribner, 1996, page 18.
12.
Wheaton, page 15.
13.
Augustus Kinsley Gardner, The French Metropolis. Paris; As Seen During the Spare Hours of a Medical Student. New York: C.S. francis & Co., 1850, page 172.
14.
Alexandre Dumas, Alan Davidson & Jane Davidson (trans), Dumas on Food: Selections from Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine. London: The Folio Society, 1978, page 131.
15.
“L’ail, qui ne peut guère être aimé à cause de la façon dont il parfume l’haleine de ses amateurs, l’ail, que le poète Horace s’efforça de déshonorer dans une ode célèbre et dont notre poète Méry, dans des strophes ardentes, célébra les gousses parfumées si chères à Marseille et à tout le midi, l’ail aimé de Henri IV et de Napoléon 1er, a, chacun doit l’avouer, un relent des plus désagréables. Sans exercer sur la digestion l’influence que certains auteurs lui attribuent, il stimule ainsi que la tomate et le piment doux et le cornichon les fonctions de l’estomac. Les Bordelais qui ne sont qu’a moitié du midi lui préfèrent l’échalote, mais il faut dire à sa louange qu’il fournit au gigot une saveur fort appréciable. Vis-à-vis de lui la modération s’impose.” Catherine de Bonnechère, La Cuisine de siècle, dictionnaire pratique des recettes culinaires et des recettes de ménage. Paris: (self-published), 1895, page 10.
16.
Data provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, cited 24 April 2007.
17.
Jane Birch & Patrice Maubourguet (eds). Larousse Gastronomique. New York: Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2001, page 544.