if garlic is the main flavour e.g. in Cacik (ja-jik) in Turkey then yes you want to use fresh. Otherwise it really depends on where it's supposed to sit in term

if garlic is the main flavour e.g. in Cacik (ja-jik) in Turkey then yes you want to use fresh. Otherwise it really depends on where it's supposed to sit in terms of importance. On the whole though, a lot of classic foods can survive a bit of imperfection and still be delicious. Why would you crap on someone for taking an easy route when they need to if the food is still tasty?