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Homer Simpson will not be attending the Edible Vancouver Garlic Festival at Limbert Mountain Farm. Apparently, he doesn’t like garlic.*

And anyway, he isn’t invited. But you are.

If you like to cook—or even if you like to eat—you’ll probably agree that garlic deserves a festival of its own. After all, it’s difficult to imagine a culinary landscape without the plant that gives distinctive flavour to so many recipes. Some of us would go so far as to say that it’s difficult to imagine life without it.

“Without garlic I simply would not care to live.” (Louis Diat,1885–1958)

If you’re a fellow fan of the herb known as “the stinking rose,” you’ll understand the Indian proverb “garlic is as good as ten mothers.” (Although I do wonder about that. I think one mother is just right, and two mothers would probably come in handy. But once you get into mother quantities of three and above, it might be too much of a good thing. How many reminders about broccoli eating, not swimming after dinner, and behind-the-ear washing can a person endure?)

That’s why, personally, I think garlic is better than ten mothers. And this is the time to rejoice, for in late summer, local farmers will begin pulling fat bulbs from the soil. Because garlic stores quite well, we tend to think of it as being without season. But fresh garlic is subtly different from the stuff that has spent months in storage; it’s wonderfully sticky, and plump with juice that makes the cloves fill their tight-fitting skins.

Those who celebrate garlic’s culinary properties use it in everything from the predictable soups and sauces to the more eyebrow-raising chocolate chip cookies, puddings, and ice creams. Those who swear by garlic’s medicinal properties claim that it’s helpful in treating everything from fungal infections and acne to high blood pressure, hangovers, and hemorrhoids.

“Oh, that miracle clove! Not only does garlic taste good, it cures baldness and tennis elbow, too.” (Laurie Burrows Grad)

This August, Edible Vancouver will join Limbert Mountain Farm to celebrate all things garlic. In addition to several varieties of fresh and seed garlic for sale, there will be garlic-growing discussions, cooking demos, and a bounty of scrumptious things to eat. Vendors will sell garlic honey, garlic popcorn, garlic sausage, garlic dips, garlic sauce, pesto, pickles, cheese, and garlic chocolate. (To be honest, I’ve never tried chocolate with garlic, and can’t say I approve of the idea. However, I would never have expected to like chocolate with bacon, either. And yet, I do.)

Trudie Bouchard, Chief Garlic Lover at Limbert Mountain Farm and Simply Fine Foods, is one of the most enthusiastic garlic fans you’ll ever encounter. But she has been inspired by one person possibly even more passionate than she is. In 2005, Dr. Robert F. Litke was visiting Agassiz from Waterloo, Ontario. Dr. Litke belongs to the Ontario Garlic Growers Association, and has been gravely concerned about biodiversity in general—and garlic diversity in particular. And so he gave Trudie and Claude Bouchard seed garlic to grow Choparsky, Leningrad, Georgian Fire, and many other varieties rarely planted by commercial growers, and hardly ever seen in supermarkets.

Fast forward to 2010. Limbert Mountain Farm grows about 14 cultivars, and Trudie is slowly building up her own stock of seed garlic. They have also been hosting a garlic festival every year since 2006, in order to spread the word—and the love—about garlic. We hope you’ll bring your curiosity, your appetite, and your shopping basket.

“It is not really an exaggeration to say that peace and happiness begin, geographically, where garlic is used in cooking.” (X. Marcel Boulestin,1878–1943)

Edible Vancouver Garlic Festival at Limbert Mountain Farm:

August 14, 2010, 11am–5pm, at 5493 Limbert Road, Kent (technically this is Agassiz, but if you’re using GPS or Google to navigate, you’ll want to look for it in District of Kent. Then again, it might be sufficient to let your nose guide you.)

Look for the signs to direct you to parking, and be prepared to walk 100–200m across rural, unpaved terrain. Entrance is free.

Limbert Mountain Farm. Contact Trudie & Claude Bouchard. 604-796-2619. www.limbertmountainfarm.com

*According to nevertrustanyonewhodoesntlikegarlic.net, Homer Simpson says that garlic gives him a sour stomach. And worse.

Debbra Mikaelsen is growing a few mystery varieties of garlic. She gives the thumbs-up to garlic butter, garlicky breadcrumbs, aioli, and Lebanese garlic toum—and on a good day, might consider trying just a teensy tiny taste of garlic chocolate.