There used to be very little garlic in my cooking world. It was a spice I used sparingly, not wanting to offend close friends and relatives with my bad breath. Until I met Peter.
In Peter’s cuisine, garlic goes into everything. He puts it on meats, in veggie dishes and salads, and especially on crunchy bread, where he rubs an entire clove all over the surface. It is such a favourite that he even grows it in his garden. He plants it every fall and then watches patiently as the cloves begin to sprout in the spring.
So when we read about a garlic festival happening in Toronto, of course we had to go. On Sunday morning Peter even skipped over a couple of sections of the newspaper just so we wouldn’t be late. We took the subway to the festival entrance on Spadina Ave, and then wandered up the crowded street. Who knew so many people love garlic?
On sale were numerous garlic products: condiments, preserves, oils, baking, wellness products, even decorations. Garlic growers competed for the attention of shoppers. Peter avoided the bad breath contest, and spent his time searching for free samples. He especially loved one booth that had crunchy bread smeared with garlic butter.
There were other interesting attractions – garlic talks, garlic face-painting, and a garlic poet. But we had timed our visit to coincide with lunch. We were overwhelmed with choices – garlic chicken tacos, vegetarian dishes enhanced with garlic spice, garlic hot dogs, garlic lamb on sticks. We finally settled on crunchy chicken skewers dressed with a garlic mayo sauce. Yummy!
After that it was dessert time. I had my heart set on garlic caramel ice cream. But the line-up was long. Just as I got to the front, the booth ran out of that flavour. The clerk said it would take 10 minutes to re-stock. I decided to wait, and Peter went off to look for other delicacies. The wait turned into 15-20 minutes and the line-up grew longer and longer. Soon the booth had sold out of ice cream entirely. What to do now?
I stood my ground, while Peter entertained himself with more free garlic bread samples. And finally – the ice cream supplies arrived!
YES – it was totally worth the wait – the perfect combination of sweet and garlic. When we go to the garlic festival next year, I plan to head to that booth first. Who says you can’t have ice cream for breakfast?
Sue
Seventy In the City 
Very interesting. I did not know there is a garlic festival. Garlic ice cream worth waiting for it? I have to try it should I ever see such an opportunity.
Or can I make it at home? What kind of an ice cream was the base of it? Chocolate? Vanilla?
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Gary is really big on growing garlic as well. He once grew 16 varieties and we had to choose which ones were best. We went to the garlic festival a few years ago and quite enjoyed it but haven’t been back. One of our favourite garlic dishes is to bake the entire head so that it gets soft. It is then really good spread on bread or potatoes. Have fun eating Peter’s harvest come spring.
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