Garlic’s good for family ties. Representatives from other
garlic-centric
”
sister cities
”
in four countries will arrive here Thursday to enjoy the Garlic
Festival and return home with some of the pungent plant’s
secrets.
Gilroy – Garlic’s good for family ties.
Representatives from other garlic-centric “sister cities” in four countries will arrive here Thursday to enjoy the Garlic Festival and return home with some of the pungent plant’s secrets.
The Gilroy Sister Cities Association holds a reception for the visitors every year before the gala, and this year the group’s private greeting party is at the I.F.D.E.S. Portuguese Lodge on Old Gilroy Street and will include 28 emissaries from Takko-Machi, Japan; St. Clar, France; Tecate, Mexico; and Angra do Heroismo, a Portuguese city in the Azores.
St. Clar and Takko-Machi have been Gilroy sisters the longest, since 1985 and 1988, respectively, and the latter prides itself on its scallops and garlic.
Garlic-infused seafood, particularly scampi that’s laden with the herb, happens to be Elaine Bonino’s favorite dish at the festival, and as a member of the sister group, she will join its president, David Peoples of Nimble Thimble on 6th Street downtown, to “demonstrate our hospitality and further our relations with these international cities,” she said.
Each city that comes to Gilroy does so because of its famed plant, but Bonino says they’re not all on par with Gilroy.
“They’re not true garlic cities. They don’t have festivals,” she said of the Azores, Palau, and Mexico, “but there’s a real connection” with the garlic-enthusiastic cities from Italy, France and Japan.
“It’s Gilroy years ago, a small rural community,” Bonino said of the Japanese community. “The food was good, and I was well received by the people, so we try to show them the same time they show us.”
Although the language of food is international, Bonino said the group keeps translators in tow, but most of the time it’s just “mmmmm”s and “aaaahhhh”s as the group saunters through Christmas Hill.
Chris Bone covers City Hall for The Dispatch and can be reached at 847-7216.
