Garlic in Mediterranean cuisine
The use of garlic in our cuisine, particularly in Italian and Spanish, is more than evident and from the well-known “Spain smells of garlic” by Victoria Beckham, it became internationally known.
But, why is the use of this vegetable so traditional in Mediterranean areas? We tell you everything in this post today.
The use of garlic dates back to the time of the Egyptians, identifying references to it in texts thousands of years old, especially due to its medicinal and religious properties.
It will be in Greek times when it begins to be used as food, among others to flavor bread. So important was it that Alexander the Great dedicated this plant to the gods.
Later, in Roman times, it was already one of the great protagonists of the diet, highly appreciated for its health properties.Over the following centuries, throughout the Middle Ages, recipes with garlic were refined and the flavors would become more complex, laying the foundations of modern cuisine, developed especially in the 18th and 19th centuries.
This is how we got to our days, when garlic has become, to the chagrin of some, one of the hallmarks of the Mediterranean diet: with beneficial properties for health and a distinctive flavor, it makes Mediterranean gastronomy a one of the richest and most varied in the world.
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