I don't understand why garlic gets such a bad rap. Following my post about favorite scents, several people mentioned garlic on their lists. I think the smell and taste of garlic is fantastic. I wish I could buy a tube of garlic toothpaste somewhere; that's how much I like it.
But people say it causes horrible breath. We can't really smell our own breath and tell if it's bad or not, at least not with very much accuracy, so how are we supposed to know when our garlic-ness offends? My wife doesn't dig it too much when I eat a lot of garlic, so I'll admit that there's some anecdotal evidence that it causes a "bad mouth" (but that should be appropriately discounted by the fact that she has the nose of a bloodhound. It's truly paranormal). Personally, I can't think of an instance when I noticed someone else's bad breath and thought that garlic was the culprit. And even if it does cause bad breath, isn't the great taste and smell of garlic worth a little bad breath afterwards? If you're worried about bad breath, mix in a mint and solve the whole problem. (Mmm, what if there were garlic-flavored mints!)
I want to start a garlic-lution. Don't be shy - join the ranks of the garlic-empowered. Start by ordering a heaping plate of Garlic French Fries from Gordon Biersch. I've had the pleasure of devouring these garlic beauties many times. The best I've ever had were at Pac-Bell Park in San Francisco during a Giants/D-backs game. I was swimming in garlic. The second best were not Gordon Biersch-branded, but they were still amazing. I got them at the rooftop grille in right field at Fenway Park. I overheard the people in the row behind me saying, "Is someone eating garlic?" Uh, yeah, you better believe someone was eating garlic. I was sweating garlic essence from my pores for days afterwards, but baby it was worth it!
Join the garlic-lution. Viva l'ail!
