Jul 25, 2008

Stinking rose to fully bloom at festival

Debate over its benefits continues

By Shelby Martin / Bay Area News Group

The odor of the stinking rose is pungent around Gilroy this time of year.

"People ask if we spray garlic in the air, the smell is so strong," said Kirsten Carr, vice president of the 2008 Gilroy Garlic Festival, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this weekend and is expected to draw 100,000 people.

Many garlic fans believe the bulb has mysterious health benefits. Undoubtedly, that is why they flock to Gilroy to eat garlic bread, garlic fries and garlic butter on everything else.

"Garlic is good for you and should be part of a healthy lifestyle," proclaims the Web site of Christopher Ranch, the largest garlic grower in the United States and the supplier of the festival's garlic. The company touts the power of fresh garlic to combat cardiovascular disease, cancer and high cholesterol.

Jon Vickroy, a chef at the garlic festival for the last 28 years, is also sold on the health benefits of garlic. He pointed out that garlic was historically used as a medicine in many cultures.

But not everyone agrees on the health benefits.

Christopher Gardner, an associate professor of medicine at Stanford, said that while there have been "literally thousands" of studies on garlic's purported effects, the medical community has "no consensus" on any of them.

Garlic's status as a health food is "plausible," Gardner said, "but it's not totally convincing."

Last February, Gardner and colleagues published the results of a study that showed garlic had no effect in treating individuals with moderately high cholesterol. For six months, some study participants ate sandwiches with garlic, others took garlic supplements and some got no garlic at all.

Several people dropped out of the study - one cited "sandwich dislike" - but 169 people stayed the course and polished off 168 sandwiches apiece.

There's a "kind of religious zealotry" following garlic, Gardner said. He said when he showed his study participants the results, "They didn't believe it! Here's this $1.5 million, NIH-funded study, and they look at it and say, 'I'm still going to eat garlic, because I know it works.'"

If garlic has a religious following, the Gilroy Garlic Festival is its Mecca. Throughout the weekend, Vickroy and others will serve up flaming skillets of garlic scampi. On Sunday, four Bay Area chefs will compete in a cook-off to win $5,000 in cash and 1,000 pounds of fresh garlic. And of course, visitors can snack on everything from garlic frog legs to garlic chocolate.

Gardner thinks that from a nutrition perspective, it's more interesting how festival participants choose to eat garlic.

Anyone who asks for a triple serving of garlic fries is probably not doing much for his health, Gardner surmised.

"The 'fries' portion of garlic fries might negate any healthy benefits," he said. Ditto for the festival's famous garlic ice cream.

For his part, Gardner says he likes to dip bell peppers and carrot sticks in garlicky hummus. "The garlic is helping me enjoy healthy vegetables that would have been less tasty on their own." He suspects that it does the same thing for other fans of the pungent bulb.
"There isn't anything like garlic," Gardner said.

Vickroy agreed. When you eat garlic, he said, "You're really enjoying your food."


If you go

WHEN: Today until Sunday, July 26.

HOURS: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Gates close at 6 p.m.

ADMISSION: $12. Children from ages 6-12, and seniors 60+ are $6. Children under 6 are free.

Visit gilroygarlicfestival.com for directions, parking and other information



Pungent factoids

Facts from the Gilroy Garlic Festival
2.5 tons - Amount of garlic delivered to the 2008 Garlic Festival.

72 tons - Amount of garlic delivered over the last 29 Garlic Festivals.

100,000 - Number of visitors expected this weekend.

$8 million - Amount of money raised for charity via ticket sales from the last 29 festivals.

3 million - Number of visitors over the last 29 festivals.


Source: Gilroy Garlic Festival