Bastille Day, Berkeley Style: July 14

For 50 years, Chez Panisse has been celebrating the stinking rose (aka garlic) on Bastille Day (July 14) in a dinner that owes much thanks to L. John Harris, author of The Book of Garlic.

“I knew Alice from having waited tables on the [restaurant’s] opening days in 1971,” he recalls. “I suggested we turn the forthcoming Bastille Day dinner into an homage to garlic, and she loved the idea. I’m making a big deal out of this anniversary because it represents the moment when my garlic obsession became a public garlic obsession. How many Garlic Festivals remain for me, and what will happen to this annual ritual after we, my generation of allium aficionados, passes? Only the garlic gods know,” Harris adds.

If you want to help Harris celebrate, check out the Chez Panisse reservation page to see if you can snag a seat. If it’s sold out, don’t cry. Just make yourself a 40 garlic clove chicken, rent Les Blank’s cult film favorite “Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers,” and bliss out at home with your BFF.

For more information about garlic and copies of Harris’s Book of Garlic, The Official Garlic Lovers Handbook, Garlic Times back issues, contact ljohnharris2024@gmail.com.