Garlic

Garlic (Allium sativum) is a bulbous perennial food plant of the family Alliaceae. The word comes to us from Old English g?rl?ac, meaning "spear leek".

History

From the earliest times garlic has been used as an article of diet. It formed part of the food of the Israelites in Egypt (Numb. xi. 5) and of the labourers employed by Cheops in the construction of his pyramid. Garlic is still grown in Egypt, where, however, the Syrian is the kind most esteemed (see Rawlinson's Herodotus, 2.125).

Related Topics:
Israel - Egypt - Cheops - Pyramid - Rawlinson

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It was largely consumed by the ancient Greek and Roman soldiers, sailors and rural classes (cf. Virg. Ed. ii. II), and, as Pliny tells us (N.H. xix. 32), by the African peasantry. Galen eulogizes it as the "rustic's theriac" (cure-all) (see F Adams's Paulus Aegineta, p. 99), and Alexander Neckam, a writer of the 12th century (see Wright's edition of his works, p. 473, 1863), recommends it as a palliative of the heat of the sun in field labor.

Related Topics:
Greek - Roman - Africa - Galen - Alexander Neckam - 12th century

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Garlic was rare in traditional English cuisine (though it is stated to have been grown in England before 1548), and a much more common ingredient in western and southern Europe, notably in French cuisine. Garlic was placed by the ancient Greeks on the piles of stones at cross-roads, as a supper for Hecate (Theophrastus, Characters, The Superstitious Man); and according to Pliny, garlic and onions were invoked as deities by the Egyptians at the taking of oaths. The inhabitants of Pelusium in lower Egypt, who worshipped the onion, are said to have held both it and garlic in aversion as food.

Related Topics:
English cuisine - England - French cuisine - Hecate - Theophrastus

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