Alright, culinary school grad, former chef, general food nerd and history/anthropology enthusiast here, weighing in on the garlic thing. There's a few different reasons for the taboo about garlic. First, there's general cultural influence on cuisine; at least in the U.S., a lot of the anti-garlic sentiment likely comes from British cuisine, where it was used much more sparingly than, say, across the Channel in France. It makes sense to a degree; northern Europe, where it's a bit more difficult to grow, uses garlic a fair amount less than the countries around the Mediterranean, where the climate is more conducive to growing it. So places where garlic is easier to grow use it more, the cuisines that develop there use it more readily, and the people living there become accustomed to its taste and smell, whereas in places where it grows less well it's used less, and the people find it more obtrusive. There's also certain religious groups, like Jains, Brahmins, and Buddhist monks, who abstain from garlic and other alliums for various reasons. Next, there's the chemical side of things. Garlic's flavor and scent are primarily derived from sulfur compounds, which means it shares aromatic notes with a number of unpleasant or unclean things like rotten eggs and human urine. Certain reactions caused when the garlic's cells are ruptured also create compounds that are dispersed in the air cause irritation to sensitive membranes, just like onions; it's why raw garlic has such a burn to it when eaten, and why chopping garlic can make your eyes water and sting. So some people avoid it because its smell reminds them of rot and filth, or because it literally causes discomfort to prepare it. Relatedly, there's the taste and smell factor. Garlic is a huge flavor and aroma; used right, it's absolutely wonderful, but it really can take over a dish if used with abandon. And the smell, as much as I and many others love it, does linger quite a bit, and it can be a bit much if you're not used to it. Further, how the garlic is prepared (how and if it's cooked, or even simply how it's cut) can completely and totally change the aroma and flavor; raw garlic chopped into a fine paste will singe your taste buds, but whole cloves of slow-roasted garlic are sweet and musky (in a good way). Acid also helps cut raw garlic's pungency. This is part of why pre-minced garlic is so weak in comparison to the fresh stuff; an acid is added to it to help preserve it (and also the aromatic compounds created by cutting are extremely volatile and will have long-since faded by the time you open the jar). Fat can also be used to mute its intensity by infusing it and then discarding the garlic. This is actually typical of proper Italian cooking; Italian-American food tends to go much more heavily on the garlic (for reasons related to the next point). Finally, and interestingly related to something you've been noticing and bringing up in this game already: good old-fashioned classism. Garlic, even in climates where it doesn't grow as well, has always been a cheap, quick, easily stored crop and a means to add a ton of flavor for not a lot of money, so it's been a staple of peasant cuisines since antiquity. The various downsides are a lot easier to put up with when your options for making things taste decent are so limited. The wealthier classes, meanwhile, had more options with regard to flavoring their foods, ones that didn't necessarily have a lingering offensive smell or which cause discomfort in their preparation, so they would typically shun it; this led to garlic being associated with the poor, which further reinforced the habit among the wealthy of avoiding it. This is true of pretty much everywhere in the world; garlic was used extensively by the lower classes, no matter where, while the richer or more aristocratic folks would use very little, and the only recipes being written down for much of history were those served to the wealthy, so that's what was recorded, and that's what influenced later writers. This association with poverty contributed to why Italian-American food uses garlic more heavily than Italian food in Italy; the big wave of Italian immigrants to the States was primarily impoverished people, and they brought their more copious use of garlic with them, which got codified here as what was proper, while the wealthier folks who stayed back in Italy had more influence on the various cuisines, and their preferences led to the use of garlic being more sparing and nuanced. You can also see this kind of trend of the tastes of the wealthy (and their general desire to avoid seemingly low-class trends) in how the use of spices in general has changed throughout history: back in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, if you had access to spices, you used them, and you used them copiously to show off your wealth, so a lot of the foods of the wealthy were heavily spiced (it's a myth that it was used to cover the taste of rotting or off foods); as spices that were previously prohibitively expensive became more accessible, though, the trend moved toward a lighter hand with seasoning, and more simple, subtle flavors, to highlight the high quality (and thus higher cost) of the ingredients.
The nitpicking of this is the engaging thing, besides the occasional unhinged elements. Podcast away at it and maybe next Layton game, if you play another, can see if Andrew can join in to keep ya company. Would say Stephanie, but got her for Raging Loop.
1:39:30 - There speaks a man who's played more than one Bioware game. Also, it's quite amusing seeing your societal egalitarianism colliding with the game's underlying classism. The good Professor is so bourgeois sometimes.
I want to say two things One: I really enjoy seeing you play this game, you are making this following this game that I have being wanting to get into genuinely entertaining. Two: I agree with the other guy around here: you should totally get somebody to co-Let’s Play with you should you play Unwound future.
Garlic is a nice smell. But I wouldn't eat one like an apple. I just looked up all the tea combos once I got all the ingredients. Since it's just trial and error guesswork X3
tbh It's funny to see you pick on everything 😅. It feels like a podcast. ~53:30: A quote for the ages
Alright, culinary school grad, former chef, general food nerd and history/anthropology enthusiast here, weighing in on the garlic thing. There's a few different reasons for the taboo about garlic.
First, there's general cultural influence on cuisine; at least in the U.S., a lot of the anti-garlic sentiment likely comes from British cuisine, where it was used much more sparingly than, say, across the Channel in France. It makes sense to a degree; northern Europe, where it's a bit more difficult to grow, uses garlic a fair amount less than the countries around the Mediterranean, where the climate is more conducive to growing it. So places where garlic is easier to grow use it more, the cuisines that develop there use it more readily, and the people living there become accustomed to its taste and smell, whereas in places where it grows less well it's used less, and the people find it more obtrusive. There's also certain religious groups, like Jains, Brahmins, and Buddhist monks, who abstain from garlic and other alliums for various reasons.
Next, there's the chemical side of things. Garlic's flavor and scent are primarily derived from sulfur compounds, which means it shares aromatic notes with a number of unpleasant or unclean things like rotten eggs and human urine. Certain reactions caused when the garlic's cells are ruptured also create compounds that are dispersed in the air cause irritation to sensitive membranes, just like onions; it's why raw garlic has such a burn to it when eaten, and why chopping garlic can make your eyes water and sting. So some people avoid it because its smell reminds them of rot and filth, or because it literally causes discomfort to prepare it.
Relatedly, there's the taste and smell factor. Garlic is a huge flavor and aroma; used right, it's absolutely wonderful, but it really can take over a dish if used with abandon. And the smell, as much as I and many others love it, does linger quite a bit, and it can be a bit much if you're not used to it. Further, how the garlic is prepared (how and if it's cooked, or even simply how it's cut) can completely and totally change the aroma and flavor; raw garlic chopped into a fine paste will singe your taste buds, but whole cloves of slow-roasted garlic are sweet and musky (in a good way). Acid also helps cut raw garlic's pungency. This is part of why pre-minced garlic is so weak in comparison to the fresh stuff; an acid is added to it to help preserve it (and also the aromatic compounds created by cutting are extremely volatile and will have long-since faded by the time you open the jar). Fat can also be used to mute its intensity by infusing it and then discarding the garlic. This is actually typical of proper Italian cooking; Italian-American food tends to go much more heavily on the garlic (for reasons related to the next point).
Finally, and interestingly related to something you've been noticing and bringing up in this game already: good old-fashioned classism. Garlic, even in climates where it doesn't grow as well, has always been a cheap, quick, easily stored crop and a means to add a ton of flavor for not a lot of money, so it's been a staple of peasant cuisines since antiquity. The various downsides are a lot easier to put up with when your options for making things taste decent are so limited. The wealthier classes, meanwhile, had more options with regard to flavoring their foods, ones that didn't necessarily have a lingering offensive smell or which cause discomfort in their preparation, so they would typically shun it; this led to garlic being associated with the poor, which further reinforced the habit among the wealthy of avoiding it. This is true of pretty much everywhere in the world; garlic was used extensively by the lower classes, no matter where, while the richer or more aristocratic folks would use very little, and the only recipes being written down for much of history were those served to the wealthy, so that's what was recorded, and that's what influenced later writers. This association with poverty contributed to why Italian-American food uses garlic more heavily than Italian food in Italy; the big wave of Italian immigrants to the States was primarily impoverished people, and they brought their more copious use of garlic with them, which got codified here as what was proper, while the wealthier folks who stayed back in Italy had more influence on the various cuisines, and their preferences led to the use of garlic being more sparing and nuanced. You can also see this kind of trend of the tastes of the wealthy (and their general desire to avoid seemingly low-class trends) in how the use of spices in general has changed throughout history: back in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, if you had access to spices, you used them, and you used them copiously to show off your wealth, so a lot of the foods of the wealthy were heavily spiced (it's a myth that it was used to cover the taste of rotting or off foods); as spices that were previously prohibitively expensive became more accessible, though, the trend moved toward a lighter hand with seasoning, and more simple, subtle flavors, to highlight the high quality (and thus higher cost) of the ingredients.
The nitpicking of this is the engaging thing, besides the occasional unhinged elements. Podcast away at it and maybe next Layton game, if you play another, can see if Andrew can join in to keep ya company. Would say Stephanie, but got her for Raging Loop.
1:39:30 - There speaks a man who's played more than one Bioware game.
Also, it's quite amusing seeing your societal egalitarianism colliding with the game's underlying classism. The good Professor is so bourgeois sometimes.
I want to say two things
One: I really enjoy seeing you play this game, you are making this following this game that I have being wanting to get into genuinely entertaining.
Two: I agree with the other guy around here: you should totally get somebody to co-Let’s Play with you should you play Unwound future.
Garlic is a nice smell. But I wouldn't eat one like an apple.
I just looked up all the tea combos once I got all the ingredients. Since it's just trial and error guesswork X3