4 ms·

Not knowing where you are from, I'd take a guess at American as there is a sharp divide in garlic use between Italian and Italian-American cusine. Italian food

by agurk 6y ago

Not knowing where you are from, I'd take a guess at American as there is a sharp divide in garlic use between Italian and Italian-American cusine. Italian food typically has a lot less garlic in it and if you had it in any of the classic dishes like ragù alla bolognese or risotto alla milanese it would be surprising. Dishes like spaghetti alla puttanesca or aglio e olio are classic examples where it is used. Marinara sauce of course has garlic as a key ingredient but this is normally thought of as a Italian-American dish and not something you'd typically find in Italy. Likewise if you had a ragu or risotto in the US you'd probably be surprised if there wasn't garlic in it. And let us not forget that other American invention of garlic bread. One thing I learned recently was that the typical types of garlic available in the US and Italy are different - softneck and hardneck respectively. Hardneck is a _lot_ more flavourful than softneck which I believe goes a long way to explaining why it's used so much more frequently in the US (and in seemingly incredible quantities). There's a very good YouTube channel [0] about Italian cooking (In Italian, usually with English subtitles available) where on one episode of chef's reacting to other videos of "Italian cooking" they had a laugh about this stereotype of Italians eating lots of garlic. [0] https://youtube.com/user/italiasquisita https://youtube.com/user/italiasquisita

steinuil 6y ago
In my region (Piemonte) we certainly do. One of the most distinctive dishes is bagna cauda, which is a dip sauce made mainly of anchovies and tons of garlic. It's usually recommended that you eat it before a day where you don't have to go out and interact with other people because you'll smell really badly of garlic :)
- agurk 6y ago
  There has to be some sub-clause of Cunningham's law referring to the perilous activity about generalising Italian cuisine :) Does Piemonte cusine also include garlic in common sauces? Is it cooked into a soffrito or included as part of a battuto? I've still not got around to visiting Piemonte, but this talk is pushing it up my list.
- vyrotek 6y ago
  Sounds delicious. I'm surprised I haven't heard of it. I'll have to ask my Nonna about it when I can travel to Entracque again. :)
  - jfengel 6y ago
    It's got the bonus nerd connection in that a character on Babylon 5 spent an episode raving about it: https://babylon5.fandom.com/wiki/Bagna_Cauda https://babylon5.fandom.com/wiki/Bagna_Cauda
- ASalazarMX 6y ago
  - "Isn't that too much garlic for a dip?" - "Don't worry, the anchovies will cover the garlic smell".
moron4hire 6y ago
I work at a foreign language instruction company. Two of the funniest moments happened at the same lunch. The Italians declaring, "Americans use too much garlic." And the Turkish declaring, "Americans have too many kinds of cheese. Cheese is just cheese." I've been known to put garlic, onions, and shallots into a dish.
- BugWatch 6y ago
  @~"Cheese is cheese." And I guess that's the moment when the French "delegation" collectively gasped, and left the table in protest? :D
  - helmholtz 6y ago
    Moving to France and discovering that every grocery store always has an entire aisle full of Cheeses was a mind-bending discovery for me. The aisle stinks, mind you, but nothing can beat Raclette after a winter's day out. The other amazing realisation was just how seriously bread is taken in these parts, with that famous No Such Thing observation that bakers in Paris may not take a vacation without putting a sign to the nearest boulangerie.
- zwaps 6y ago
  Interestingly, Turks have broadly one type of cheese (not really true, but compared to France let's go with it) per use. So cheese really isn't just cheese. You have your cheese for sandwiches and melting, you have your cheese for stuffing pastries, you have your cheese for breakfast, you have a couple of ones with special shapes like the braided ones. And please, try not to mix these up. The white cheese for breakfast is not the one for the pastry, even though it looks similar. And why do Europeans crumble any sort on their dishes and call it Turkish? The nerve! In some sense, Turks are some of the least "Cheese is cheese" people I met.

by agurk 6y ago

steinuil 6y ago

In my region (Piemonte) we certainly do. One of the most distinctive dishes is bagna cauda, which is a dip sauce made mainly of anchovies and tons of garlic. It's usually recommended that you eat it before a day where you don't have to go out and interact with other people because you'll smell really badly of garlic :)

agurk 6y ago
There has to be some sub-clause of Cunningham's law referring to the perilous activity about generalising Italian cuisine :) Does Piemonte cusine also include garlic in common sauces? Is it cooked into a soffrito or included as part of a battuto? I've still not got around to visiting Piemonte, but this talk is pushing it up my list.
vyrotek 6y ago
Sounds delicious. I'm surprised I haven't heard of it. I'll have to ask my Nonna about it when I can travel to Entracque again. :)
- jfengel 6y ago
  It's got the bonus nerd connection in that a character on Babylon 5 spent an episode raving about it: https://babylon5.fandom.com/wiki/Bagna_Cauda https://babylon5.fandom.com/wiki/Bagna_Cauda
ASalazarMX 6y ago
- "Isn't that too much garlic for a dip?" - "Don't worry, the anchovies will cover the garlic smell".

moron4hire 6y ago

I work at a foreign language instruction company. Two of the funniest moments happened at the same lunch. The Italians declaring, "Americans use too much garlic." And the Turkish declaring, "Americans have too many kinds of cheese. Cheese is just cheese." I've been known to put garlic, onions, and shallots into a dish.

BugWatch 6y ago
@~"Cheese is cheese." And I guess that's the moment when the French "delegation" collectively gasped, and left the table in protest? :D
- helmholtz 6y ago
  Moving to France and discovering that every grocery store always has an entire aisle full of Cheeses was a mind-bending discovery for me. The aisle stinks, mind you, but nothing can beat Raclette after a winter's day out. The other amazing realisation was just how seriously bread is taken in these parts, with that famous No Such Thing observation that bakers in Paris may not take a vacation without putting a sign to the nearest boulangerie.
zwaps 6y ago
Interestingly, Turks have broadly one type of cheese (not really true, but compared to France let's go with it) per use. So cheese really isn't just cheese. You have your cheese for sandwiches and melting, you have your cheese for stuffing pastries, you have your cheese for breakfast, you have a couple of ones with special shapes like the braided ones. And please, try not to mix these up. The white cheese for breakfast is not the one for the pastry, even though it looks similar. And why do Europeans crumble any sort on their dishes and call it Turkish? The nerve! In some sense, Turks are some of the least "Cheese is cheese" people I met.