Garlic is Good for You

I don't know who invented the garlic bagel, but I suspect it was someone who wanted to be left alone for the remainder of the day. Cream cheese I can understand. It contains fat—lots of it—what's not to like? People have a perverse affection for garlic. Come to think of it, make that a craving.

I recall consuming a substantial portion of garlic pizza from Uncle Vito's, an Italian restaurant in San Francisco. “Fresh Garlic—just ask!” said the menu. I asked. (Uncle Vito's is just a few blocks up Powell St. from Sears Fine Food, where you can score a great breakfast the next morning, albeit garlic-free.) Garlic bagel? I confess.

The Ancient Romans had a saying: “One must be suspicious of anyone who does not eat garlic”. Well, that's an Italian for you.

In Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey , Odysseus used wild garlic to keep the sorceress Circe from turning him into a pig. I'm not sure how this worked, but you can't deny his inventiveness. Most of his fellow Greeks would have let Circe do her work, then used the garlic to make a batch of tzatziki, rounded up some pita and ouzo and had a pig roast, with Odysseus as the main course. Hermes, messenger of the gods, gave Odysseus the garlic. I have no idea why he had garlic in his possession. He must not have had a date that night—unless it was an Italian girl.

The Egyptians were said to consume garlic to give them strength to build the pyramids. Great, a bunch of sweaty men with bad breath, stuck inside a pyramid in sweltering heat. They were said to have gone on strike when deprived of their garlic ration. Remember, this was before the Teamsters and AFL-CIO.

They call garlic the stinking rose. Today it's the name of about a billion restaurants whose owners probably think they are mighty clever. Run a Google search on "stinking rose" and see how clever they are. A disproportionate share of these restaurants is found in California, which is not totally surprising, given the state's bountiful garlic crop.

Garlic is actually a member of the lily family, and is a relative to onions and shallots. Wikibooks succinctly notes, “Garlic is a pungently odoriferous member of the allium family.” That about covers it.

Anything that smells or tastes bad is thought to be a cure for something—consider some of the vile concoctions prescribed for hangovers—and garlic has been said to cure all manner of afflictions.

On a more scientific basis, The University of Maryland Medical Center notes that garlic is rich in antioxidants, and that it may fight heart disease, the common cold and cancer. Further research is necessary to substantiate these claims. The Center recommends taking 2 to 4 grams of fresh garlic daily (a clove weighs about a gram), or 600 to 1,200 milligrams of aged garlic extract, in divided doses. They also cite garlic's blood-thinning qualities, which can increase one's risk of bleeding during or after surgery.

Garlic has also been cited as an aphrodisiac and palliative (i.e., an aid in relieving suffering), not to mention keeping evil at bay, as any viewer of vampire films knows. DoctorMorrow.com notes the existence of a prescription for garlic on a Sumerian tablet from 3,000 B.C. Given the quality of doctors' handwriting, I'm surprised that archaeologists could read it. What's the cuneiform script for “Take two cloves and call me in the morning”?

Reader's Digest notes garlic's healthful qualities, and recommends peeling garlic and letting it rest for 10 minutes after cutting or crushing it, to allow time for health-promoting compounds to form. Andrea Wright-Agustin explains in the Hawaiian publication Island Scene that crushing garlic activates an enzyme that provides these healthful properties, and goes on to mention its possible role in fighting bacteria, viruses and fungi. Garlic is also said to mitigate the effects of infections of the upper respiratory tract, and may have a minor role in reducing cholesterol, and possibly blood pressure. Pass me another garlic bagel, please.

California is the top garlic producer in the U.S., trailed by Oregon and Nevada, says the University of California in a 2006 paper. Per capita consumption has grown from 1.3 to 3.3 pounds between 1990 and 1999. I hope breath mints enjoyed similar sales growth.

China, notes the university's paper, produces over 75 percent of the world's garlic. I suspect they'll see no trouble from the Italians. China dominated garlic imports to the United States in the first decade of the millennium despite a 377-percent duty. Garlic wars! I suspect U.S. lawmakers were harrumphing about “garlic dumping”, as they used to rail against the Japanese, who had the nerve to give us good deals on TV sets a few decades before.

Garlic contains an amino acid derivative called alliin, along with the enzyme alliinase. These substances combine to form the compound allyl methyl sulfide (AMS), notes TasteArts. This sulfur compound passes undigested to the blood, sending garlic odor to be expelled through the lungs and skin.

The Digest recommends using lemon juice to remove garlic odor from the hands, and chewing on fresh parsley, mint or lemon or orange peel to take garlic off your breath. The Global Gourmet website says you can eliminate the odor by washing your hands in cold water, rubbing them with table salt and washing with soap and water. TasteArts recommends eating coffee beans to tame garlic breath.

It's said that feeding your dog garlic can substantially eliminate its bad breath. I don't know how you're supposed to sweet-talk your pet into eating raw garlic, and if you accomplish that, good luck trying to see if it worked.

The Healthiest Fast Food: You can order healthy fast food, but they don't make it easy, and you may be eating more calories than you think. Learn how to order fast food that doesn't go straight to your waistline.

2012 Food Trends: The Joke's On You: The experts tell us about the clever dishes we will find at cutting-edge bistros in the coming year, and they look suspiciously like the stuff we ate as kids.

Consumer Reports "Food & Fitness" Identifies 12 Unhealthy "Health" Foods, Nine Germiest Places in your Kitchen: Consumer Reports has issued a Food & Fitnessmagazine, on sale through Feb. 12, 2012. Here are tips from the magazine on unhealthy "health" foods, along with ways to keep your kitchen free of bacteria.

How to Control Mindless Eating: Mindless eating is a complex topic. Many internal and external cues trigger you to eat more than you mean to. You can take simple steps to better control your eating.

National Nutrition Month: March 2012: The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics encourages you to "Get Your Plate in Shape" by eating a balanced diet and watching your intake of calories, sodium and solid fats.