HOW can my mother and brother not have any form of garlic in their kitchens?

[cathrowan]

Not even garlic powder?!?!

Comments

[smokingboot]

That's baffling!

[graydon]

Cooking is a construct of habit.

Bring garlic powder into their kitchens and observe that it's still there as you left it when you next visit.

(Probably. Might have been tossed as expired.)

[telophase]

My partner myrialux told me of a visit to his friends many years ago. They said “We have a couple of pounds of ground beef and want to make something.” So he came over and was browning the beef, and started looking in the cabinets for something to season it with. One of his friends asked what he was looking for.

“Salt. Pepper. Spices. Anything I can season the meat with.”

Incredulous, his friend replied, “Why would you put that on the meat?”

I think another friend intervened and found him some salt, but that’s stuck in my partner’s head for decades now.

[jennlk]

My mother-in-law was absolutely baffled that anyone would use garlic. In anything! (I don't use much garlic anymore, but that's because it triggers DH's acid reflux.)

Even fresh ground pepper was beyond her ken. She was confused when she couldn't find the pepper shaker on my dining room table "Mom, the pepper grinder is here. Right next to the salt shaker." "You use *fresh* ground pepper?!? "

[the_siobhan]

Vampires?

[azurelunatic]

I'm mystified too!

Though fwiw, one of my partners has to be careful with alliums even though they find them delicious.

[landingtree]

My flatmate is garlic-intolerant, so I have reluctantly begun doing without it - but even we have garlic-infused oil!

[marycatelli]

Tastes differ. My grandfather used to have his spaghetti with butter, only. No sauce.

[lydy]

Hello? Hello? I'd like to report a war crime?

Many many many years ago, my soon to be mother-in-law asked the highly impoverished and almost homeless me if I wanted her to buy me anything at the grocery store. I told her I'd like some basil and some oregano, as spaghetti was very cheap (especially if you don't put meat in it). She looked at me with great concern and said, "Nigel doesn't like spicy food, you know." I stared at her in utter confusion. (It also turned out, later, that Nigel did like spicy food as soon as it was offered to him and I used to make a chili that would absolutely tear your hair off, and he loved it.)

[fred_mouse]

I have to fall on the side of 'none of that in this house' - Youngest doesn't tolerate it, and even with them on the other side of the country, I haven't got back in the habit of having it in the house. And at least three of us don't tolerate onions, so none of those either. It has been 20+ years, and I still occasionally miss having the onions, but I certainly don't miss prepping them!

[which_chick]

Wow. Usually folks at least have the powdered stuff... or the jar stuff.

[galadhir]

I'm on the low-fodmap diet (for IBS), so I can't have garlic or even onion, but you will still find low-fodmap garlic and onion oil in my kitchen because I think it's so hard to do without them. Do they have other spices and seasonings instead?

[cathrowan]

They did have other spices, and I made do. My brother had a jar of the crushed garlic the last time I was out there. I guess when he replaced his fridge (and the contents of the old one) he didn't buy more? To be fair, he doesn't cook a lot. I end up restocking various things each time I visit so I have supplies on hand when I want to cook.