Do you like garlic?

Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Beth. It smells delicious sizzling in oil and it's great for keeping vampires away, but don't eat it on a first date! I'm talking, of course, about garlic. Neil, do you like garlic?

Oh yes, I love garlic. I had a very garlicky meal last night.

Mmm, I know – I can smell it from here! Here is Jason Chan, an Australian chef who specialises in Asian cuisine, and Poul Erik Jensen, a Danish chef living in France, talking about their love of garlic to BBC World Service programme, The Food Chain:

I love garlic because it's a versatile ingredient that can be used for cooking and offers various health benefits.

We use it a lot and so, from stocks to soups – and in vegetable dishes, meat dishes – there's very certain a clove of garlic in somewhere. Yeah, it's unimaginable not using garlic.

Jason loves garlic because it's versatile, meaning it can be used in many different ways. And Poul thinks cooking without garlic is unimaginable, meaning it's difficult to imagine because it would be so bad.

Love garlic or hate it, in this episode we'll be finding out more about this versatile, strong-smelling food. And, as usual, we'll be learning some useful new words and phrases as well.

And remember – you can find all the vocabulary from this episode on our website, fact that of the 600 varieties of garlic, many grew only in the former Soviet Union and were unavailable in the West until the fall of communism in the 1990s. So, which of the following varieties of garlic grew in the former USSR? Is it: a) rocambole, b) fire, or c) riesig?

Oh, I have no idea. I'm going to guess fire.

OK. We'll find out if you're right at the end of the programme. Garlic is much more than just a cooking ingredient. For centuries, garlic was an important food throughout ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, as well as India and China. It was the Roman Empire that brought garlic to European countries like France. And everywhere garlic grew, it was praised for its health-giving powers.

Here, BBC presenter Rumella Dasgupta asks author and garlic expert Robin Cherry about garlic's medicinal uses, on BBC World Service's The Food Chain:

And what kind of illnesses or conditions would they have treated, for instance?

Everything from cancer, scurvy, the plague, respiratory ailments… it was used as an aphrodisiac.

Garlic was used to treat respiratory ailments. An ailment is another word for an illness or minor health problem, so a respiratory ailment is an illness of the lungs.

In Ancient Greece, garlic was also used as an aphrodisiac – a food or drink believed to increase sexual desire. But interestingly, this was the same reason why some cultures avoided eating garlic altogether, including a religious group from India called Jains.

Yes, Jainism is an ancient Indian religion, like Hinduism and Buddhism, based on the idea of 'ahimsa', or non-violence. But unlike many Hindus and Buddhists, Jains' definition of non-violence includes plants and vegetables. Jains don't eat garlic because uprooting the plant kills both it and the soil ecosystem it grows in.

Here's Sonal Ved, a Mumbai-based cooking-show host and author of many books on Indian cuisine, explaining another reason why Jains avoid garlic to BBC World Service programme, The Food Chain:

According to Hinduism also, garlic is considered a food which is called a 'tamasic' food. It is believed to stimulate desire, passion, aggression. And that's why they abstain from eating those kinds of food: because it is believed to impact your spiritual growth and also your mental clarity.

Jains abstain from eating garlic. If you abstain from doing something, you choose not to do it. For example, you might abstain from tobacco or alcohol because you know they're bad for your health.

Like the Ancient Greeks, Jains believe that garlic stimulates sexual desire. The verb to stimulate means encourage it or cause it to develop and grow.

Modern medicine has confirmed some of these ancient beliefs about the health benefits of garlic, including reduced blood pressure and better gut health. OK Neil, isn't it time you revealed the answer to your question?

Yes, Beth. I asked you which variety of garlic grew in the former USSR.

And I said fire. Was I right?

You were absolutely correct.

Yay!

Fire or Georgian fire is a hot, white garlic from the Republic of Georgia in the former Soviet Union. OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned, starting with versatile, an adjective meaning to have many different purposes or uses.

The phrase, it's unimaginable is used to say that something is difficult to imagine because it would be so good or so bad.

An ailment is an illness or health problem.

An aphrodisiac is a food or drink believed to increase sexual desire.

If you abstain from something, you choose not to do it.

And finally, to stimulate means to encourage something or cause it to grow. Once again, our six minutes are up. If you've enjoyed this episode then head over to our practise the vocabulary you've learnt. See you again soon. But for now, it's goodbye!

Goodbye!