Warm Up for the book tour

Enjoyable night at Table Talks at the Depanneur restaurant. I answered questions from dinner guests about garlic while owner/chef Len Senator cooked garlic roasted with chicken thighs, cherry tomatoes, red onions, potatoes & balsamic vinegar. On the side, crispy, nutty garlic chips top a salad of sweet, caramelized seared carrots mixed with arugula & goat cheese

 












The three questions:
Where does garlic come from?                          
What are the best prep and cooking techniques to get different flavours from garlic?             
What’s the difference between Ontario and imported garlic?
The answers: to be found in my book: Ontario Garlic: The Story from Farm to Festival, coming summer, 2015

Len Senator behind the counter

Thanks to interview subjects for the book

The stories and anecdotes from my interviewees gave a pulse to the archival research for the book (Ontario Garlic: The Story from Farm to Festival
Many thanks to:

  

 Julia Aitken, Steve Anderson, Seymore Applebaum, John Arena, Mario Aricci, Sal Badali, Dominic Badali, Jennifer Bain, Bob Baloch, Bruce Bell, Halia Buba, Mike Buba, Ed Burt, Massimo Capra, James Chatto, Ane Christensen, George Cleary, David Colhmeyer, Wayne Conway, Arnold Cornelius, Greg Couillard, Alan Cowa, Pat Crocker, Mark Cullen, Sonia Day, Ivonete de Sousa, Simon De Boer, Rita DeMontis, Donna Dooher, Peter Dyer, Kirk Elliott, Josie Emond, Kaniz Fatima, Alexandra Feswick, Joe Fiorito, Chef D, Kathy Flint, Jenny Forte, Roberto Fracchioni, Kevin Frank, Lynn Freeman, Alison Freyer, Eileen Garber, Brad Goulding, Barry Gragg, Wayne Greer, Rob Gregorini, Donna  Griffith, Jean Gural, Warren Ham, Kate Hamilton, Lloyd J.Harris, John Higgins, Daniel Hoffman, Curt Hospidales, Justin Huang,  Chung-Ja Jackson, Stan Jeong, Mel Jones, Josh Josephson, Jamie Kennedy, Graham Kerr, Michael Kidus,  Banchi Kinde, Tom Kioussis, Marie Klassen, Johann Kleinsasser, Dinah Koo, Dorothy Lane, Lorraine Lazarenko,  Jason Lee, Mrs.  Lee, Susur Lee, Theresa Lemieux, Emily Leonard, Marilyn Lightstone,  Chris Likourgiotis, Karon Liu, Brad Long, Pero Lounge, Shirley  Lum, Nina MacDonald, Stuart McLean, Ted Maczka, Heather MacMillan, Tiferanji  Malithano, Sanjiz Mathews, Célestin Mbanianga, Cathy McClusky, Joanne McClusky, John McClusky, Mike McClusky, Susan McClusky, Chris Mcdonald,  John McDougall ,Gretchen McDowell, Mark McDowell, Bruce McEwen, Anna McGrenaghan, Alex McKay, Stuart McLean, Mary Luz Mejia, Ennio Mercantonio, Rod Meyers, Peter Minaki, Cory Mintz, Jordan Mitchell, Mark Mitchell, Peter Mitchell, Scott Mitchell,  Aisha Mohamed, Helena Moroz, Amy Morris, Wayne Morris, Mike Murakami, Colette Murphy, Al Music , Sivakumar Nadarajah, Subagini  Nadarajah Bart Nagel , Zarqa Nawaz, Brenda Norman, Vanesha Nuckchaddee-Khadaroo, Laurie Oehy, Marilyn Onucky-Vervega, Giacomo Pasquini, Aman Patel, Edo Pehilj, Argentino del Piero, Joan Pond, Ron Raymer, Sheila Robb, Cookie Roscoe, Harry Rosen, Suman Roy, Tony Sabherwal, Jessica Schmidt, Len Senator, Sridharan Sethuratnam, Sandra Sharko, Roma Shewciw, Matthew Smerek, Anne  Sorrenti, Michael Stadtländer, John Stefura, Mary Stefura, Mike Strathdee, Stella Walker, Anne Waters,  Adam Waxman, Sara Waxman, Jacqui Wice, Mary Williamson, Ted Woloshyn, Evelyn Wu, Anne Yarymowich, Monika Zhu

Book is done

After more than a year my book on garlic is done. Ontario Garlic: The Story From Farm to Festival is a cultural history of the stinking bulb. The story starts with the earliest use of garlic in ancient Central Asia and traces its path all the way to Ontario. It's cultivation and the role of immigrants in popularizing the plant is told through stories and anecdotes, including The Man Who Loved Garlic and Hated It, and Mike Myers and the Garlic French Toast. To be published summer 2015 by History Press. Exact pub date to be announced.