I am going to be straight here and state flat out, that while I love cooking, eating, and life full of great friends, cook books in general put me to sleep. Not this one, not this one by far. Being a lover of garlic, I became educated what a true garlic lover should know. My own education was pre-school level compared to what I learned from this book. This is no Betty Crocker cookbook full of picture perfect dishes, nor is this some nearly religious foodie bible. It is as it states: Garlic Kisses: Human Struggles with Garlic Connections with twelve enduring stories about and around the life of a garlic farmer. A life that is far from boring. I just might go out, fetch a pot or two, and try to grow some of my own.

Garlic Kisses brings you into this world of garlic growing with stories of California that anyone who loves the state, place, and mindset will smile, laugh, and ooh and ahh over. Frankly, before this book, my idea of being a garlic foodie, I am ashamed to say, began and ended with the Gilroy Festival (a longstanding fundraiser for the local Gilroy community) where the only garlic they present is grown commercially -- the white ones you find in most supermarkets. While fun, the festival is limiting, as this book has taught me. That, and a few restaurants, in San Francisco were all I had of my garlic experience.

As the book title does say, however, in the second part, “Struggles With The Human Connection.” While seemingly, even cloyingly, suggesting that the struggles have to do with the fragrant or odorous garlic breath, depending on your point of view, of course, this is far from the case. Chester Aaron and his co-star Sadie, his industrious cat, romp through the twelve stories of encounters with various human and other life forms, such as gophers. Now I knew that gophers can be a problem with lawn care. My own view being to live and let live. But I had not idea just how destructive they could be. Sadie has taken to love garlic in her food. Gophers eat the garlic, so Chester figures this is the reason his 18-year-old fur friend goes after them with such vigor. But, of course, it not all just him and his cat. He has secret meetings with others in the garlic world to collect bulbs to grow and to ferret out some strange and wonderful people brought together by a love or a discovery of garlic including a life long hater of garlic, the funny results of a snobbish cook off and others. Bits of mystery, history, and hysterics are all part of this book.

It is a mixture of autobiographical, local flavor in terms of culture, humor and some serious notations on the benefits of various kinds of garlic and their flavors. This book is much like an initiation into a wine culture, but without all the fuss. It is also a book for everyone. The author, like California itself, did not want to seem too pretentious and, therefore, out of the hands of anyone.

With this cookbook, you will learn about a world of garlic from around the globe. You will learn what to expect and look for in these treasured bulbs. And yes, there are recipes in this book, all delicious and mostly quite simple. This is the kind of cooking you share with dear friends and family and is the best kind of cookbook there is.

Reviewed By: Nancy Louise
© March 2006