My family is from the Greek island of Ikaria, a Blue Zone renowned for the longevity of its inhabitants. To us, garlic has long been more than “just” an ingredient.
Garlic is one of the defining components of the Mediterranean diet. I use it every day at almost every meal when I cook for myself or my family. During the weeks I run my cooking classes on the island, we use so much of it that one of my kitchen assistants takes half a dozen or so heads of garlic home with her each night to peel and store in water for the following day.
Modern-day Ikarians swear by garlic as folk medicine, too. Many of my garlic lessons come from an old family friend, Yiorgos Stenos, a spry beekeeper in his 90s. He lives and eats the way Ikarians of yore…
