A Holiday Gift

Sneaking it in here while major holidays are in progress or right around the corner. The gift is not really a thing, it is an idea, and I have always felt - well, once I passed the age of obsessing over toys like a Fanner-Fifty - that ideas made better gifts than things.

It will surprise none of you that the idea for this particular idea stems from a series of videos on Curiosity Stream called either Nature Knows Best, or Nature Got it Right or something like that. The premise of the series is that a bunch of “human concerns” have been addressed through animal evolution over the millennia. Wing development spearheaded by birds and insects whose adaptations appear in our helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. Octopuses reveal secrets of propulsion and camouflage. Skunks - well you get it.

This particular idea stems from flora, not fauna. And from a particular class of cuisine - well maybe a variety of tastes, palates, whatever. To be plain we are talking garlic - Allium sativum. If not one of cooking’s “holy trinity,” at least a saint of some significance. This idea springs from the preparation. Garlic is not one of those foods that you just pick and eat - like fruits, cherries, apples, pears, etc. Even a good sweet onion or fresh corn. No, garlic is a whole ’nutter critter.

First you peel off the white covering of the whole head so you can get to the individual cloves. Then you smack the individual cloves with the kitchen, or garden, implement of your choice. I prefer the flat side of a meat tenderizer hammer. This loosens the tough peel that encloses the shiny final garlic clove that you can then chop, slice, simmer or fry depending upon the requirements of the recipe. Now, try to spread your fingers apart!

Ah! Ha! That is the idea that nature does best! Flora’s parallel notion to a shark skin abrasive, the octopus’s camouflage, the hummingbird’s wing beat! Garlic’s Glue! 

Now remember I said at the very beginning that the gift was not a thing, it was an idea. If I had the chemistry smarts to turn raw garlic juice into “GarGoo,” or “LicStick,” and the marketing ability to compete with “Gorilla Glue” or “Super Glue’” and the motivation to do so, I might have done so. 

But I’m retired. I’d rather read and draw. 

So I gift you this idea! You go ahead and make it a “thing,” maybe kick a finders fee my way 🤪

Happy Holidays!