Garlic bread is on the menu for pasta night! But most ready-made garlic bread made with factory-farmed animal ingredients in plastic packaging. So why not make your own? Vegan Garlic Bread (The Veg Space) is made with parsley, vegan butter (Flora is a good palm-oil-free brand) and optional vegan cheese.
Read up on keeping people & pets safe in the kitchen (garlic, salt and fresh dough are unsafe near animal friends). Never give garlic/salty bread to garden birds or wildfowl (nor stale/crusty/mouldy bread) as it can choke (buttered bread smears feathers, affecting waterproofing/insulation). Bin allium/citrus scraps, as acid harms worms in compost bins).
Garlic bread is a dish created by Italian-American immigrants, updating the Italian bruschetta (served with olive oil before butter was used), slicing a baguette diagonally to stuff with butter, herbs (and sometimes cheese) before baking in the oven. It’s usually then torn at the table, to accompany a meal.
Garlic bread – it’s the future. I’ve tasted it. Brian Potter (played by Peter Kay in Phoenix Nights)
To make your own garlic bread, just slice a baguette (or ciabatta) in half and toast one side for a couple of minutes. Then mix up vegan butter ((or this homemade garlic herb butter by So Vegan) with minced garlic and fresh chopped parsley (or any Italian herb), and spread over the baguette with a knife, sprinkle with grated vegan cheese. Grill for a few minutes, slice up and cool, just before serving. Best eaten fresh.
Try Air Fryer Crispy Garlic Bread (Full of Plants) is ready in minutes, this only has a few ingredients like cheesy-tasting nutritional yeast. Or make vegan cheesy garlic breadsticks (Ela Vegan).
how garlic travelled the world!
Although garlic is considered Mediterranean, it first arrived on England’s shores in 1548 and just a few years later, was recommended to treat skin diseases, due to being effective against cholera. During the influenza pandemic of 1918, it was even used to treat soldiers. As a sidenote, this was how Pilates started, when Joseph Pilates taught prisoners with influenza the exercises that healed him. Hitler wanted him to train the troops. But as a pacifist, he escaped by boat, met his wife on the ship and they opened the first studio in the USA.
Garlic was also used as an antiseptic to clean wounds (only for humans, garlic is toxic to pets). But the humble bulb soon fell out of favour, only becoming popular again in Victorian times, when people discovered French food. Isle of Wight garlic farm says that when it opened in the 80s, some people believed it would not succeed. But they knew better, as the co-founder’s granny had planted some after three French fighters in Cowes missed it so much, they asked a resistance fighter to fly some out!
