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:
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
Sometimes garlic is used by itself as a bit of decoration:
l’ail confit
slow-cooked garlic
Sometimes garlic is a major flavor in a dish:
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:
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.
