It all began shortly after I began my career at The Great Big Research Company, when I called on a client for the first time. Our meeting had been scheduled immediately after lunch, and when I walked into his office and shook hands with him, I was nearly sick.
To say that his breath reeked would be an egregious understatement: it smelled like he’d just eaten a dozen cloves of garlic. And it got worse. As the meeting progressed, he started to perspire (not unusual in midsummer Johannesburg back then, where offices seldom had A/C), and the smell of garlic permeated not only the entire room but even my clothing.
The reason I knew it had stuck to my clothes was when I walked back into the office and my secretary waved her hand in a fanning motion and asked whether I’d had Italian food for lunch.
I’ve hated garlic ever since.
Also, because I saw clients at least once a week, I decided that there was no way I would ever potentially offend them by smelling of garlic; so I made a conscious effort to avoid garlic-laden foods. Over time, I actually developed such a strong aversion to the stuff that my long-suffering wives had to take it out of any cooking recipes.
So what had started as a courtesy to clients turned out to be a lifelong aversion. (I remember watching some cookery show, when the “chef”, in cooking two steaks, crushed five cloves of garlic in their preparation. I was nearly sick at the very thought of how the meat would taste — and I love steak.)
Feel free to imagine my experiences in Paris and Rome — no doubt a factor in my always choosing to eat outdoors, now that I think of it.
This post was inspired by this article, which extols the virtues of garlic as a cure for just about everything, and by our dinner with the Son&Heir last week, where he and his girlfriend ordered snails as a shared starter. I could smell the garlic from across the table, but fortunately, it was barely noticeable, even to my garlic-sensitive nostrils.
I know that this little preference (or rather, non-preference) of mine is going to cause outright mirth and shakes of the head, but there it is. The stuff reeks and I want no part of it, despite all its purported health benefits.
I could give a rip about purported health benefits; garlic & ginger are staple aromatics in the Asian cuisines my slant-eyed mamma san raised me on. The larder is well stocked with both at Casa Kotowski.
You are in good company, Kim: Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II also disdained garlic.
I tend to regard the proclivities of inbred royals to be the weakest of beacons. ‘Murica!
I’ve never bought a garlic in my life, never will.
All the cooking shows start every recipe out with mountains of garlic and oceans of olive oil. I’ve been preparing our meals here for 30+ years and some how have managed to almost never use either.
I do like onions though.
My father in law detested garlic.
My wife and I like it. we all have different preferences
A local pizza place has a Kiss of Death pizza that includes mozzarella, roasted garlic, scallions, onions, caramelized onions, gorgonzola, garlic, garlic and more garlic. It’s very good with shrimp added.
Garlic on a steak is a abomination and apostacy.
Steaks should be cooked with sea salt and cracked black pepper as God intended.
Amen.
And in my case, if searing in cast iron, a pat or two of butter.
I dissent, and offer a story I once read.
A woman was teaching her teenager to cook, and the importance of using enough garlic. She said “from time-to-time, you’ll see a recipe where they say to include one clove of minced garlic. Disregard that; the author of that recipe clearly does not understand God’s grace to us. Use more.”
But tastes differ; I get that. I also take a garlic supplement in pill form, so it’s possible to get the health benefits even if you don’t like the taste.