I’m not sure where or when I first tasted garlic. What I know for sure is that it wasn’t at home.

My mother cooked what my father liked, and he liked what his mother had cooked, which meant German cuisine. Although garlic was not unheard of in Germany, the advice found in one of my mother’s cookbooks from 1958 ( Das praktische neue Kochbuch ) gives you a good idea of its reputation there.

Garlic, the housewife is cautioned, should be used very sparingly; in fact, it’s best to go no further than lightly rubbing the inside of the pot or bowl with it. I don’t think my mother even got that close to using garlic.

When I moved to Florence in 1976, I shopped in the outdoor markets and my own cooking was transformed from northern to southern European. But it wasn’t until one day in late sprin

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