# Why garlic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954 "2013-04-17T17:30:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/1 "2013-04-17T17:30:19Z")
In Eastern European folklore as filtered through novels and Hollywood, garlic repels vampires. Not werewolves or witches, only vampires. And you don’t even need the bulb-cloves, garlic **flowers** will do. (See the scene in _Dracula_ (the novel) where the party beheads vampire-Lucy and stuffs her mouth with garlic flowers to make sure she stays dead.) Why is that? Why garlic? And why does garlic not repel evil supernatural beings other than vampires? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/2 "2013-04-17T17:41:54Z")
Garlic aggravates the symptoms of porphyria, which is a source of a lot of the vampire myths. So it carried over. One guy with the disease reacted to a garlic pizza and a legend was born. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/3 "2013-04-17T20:24:41Z")
Or because it repels bloodsucking critters like mosquitoes. Or because vampirism resembles rabies, and rabies victims sometimes fixate on strong smells. Or because Bram Stoker knew how to add details to a story to give it an odor of realism. Sorry 'bout that. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/4 "2013-04-17T20:39:48Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Or because Bram Stoker knew how to add details to a story to give it an odor of realism. Sorry 'bout that. Verismellitude? ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/5 "2013-04-17T21:02:51Z")
Food? Film/literature? Off to Cafe Society. Bon apetite! 😉 from IMHO ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/6 "2013-04-17T21:48:13Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Or because vampirism resembles rabies, and rabies victims sometimes fixate on strong smells. Well, I don’t really know, but I don’t think the flowers smell like the cloves. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/7 "2013-04-17T21:49:37Z")
BTW, I once read that in the early _Thimble Theater_ strips, Popeye got his strength by eating garlic. At some point that was changed to spinach. Fortunately for the olfactory sensibilities of America’s parents. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/8 "2013-04-17T21:55:20Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > BTW, I once read that in the early _Thimble Theater_ strips, Popeye got his strength by eating garlic. At some point that was changed to spinach. Fortunately for the olfactory sensibilities of America’s parents. Actually, spinach, garlic, and olive [del]oyl[/del] oil makes a great combination. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/9 "2013-04-17T23:12:59Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Garlic aggravates the symptoms of porphyria, which is a source of a lot of the vampire myths. So it carried over. One guy with the disease reacted to a garlic pizza and a legend was born. Please tell me the whole post is a joke and not merely the last sentence. Our Perfect Master among others has thoroughly debunked the idea that porphyria was responsible for any vampire myths. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/10 "2013-04-18T05:35:29Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > BTW, I once read that in the early _Thimble Theater_ strips, Popeye got his strength by eating garlic. At some point that was changed to spinach. Fortunately for the olfactory sensibilities of America’s parents. Cool. I recently read (but have already forgotten where) that Popeye’s spinach (previously garlic?) as a superman pill was a thinly-veiled analogue for cocaine. Sounds fishy to me but I thought I’d throw it out there. ---
**Author:** ![pjnlsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e8c25b/32.png) [@pjnlsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjnlsn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/11 "2013-04-18T05:58:32Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Please tell me the whole post is a joke and not merely the last sentence. Our Perfect Master among others has thoroughly debunked the idea that porphyria was responsible for any vampire myths. Why not lol? it fits. The aversion to light, the red eyes, the appearance of sickly veins in the person, and the garlic thing? ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/12 "2013-04-18T06:20:51Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Verismellitude? Loved it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/13 "2013-04-18T06:28:39Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > BTW, I once read that in the early _Thimble Theater_ strips, Popeye got his strength by eating garlic. At some point that was changed to spinach. Fortunately for the olfactory sensibilities of America’s parents. Not true. I’ve read all of Thimble Theater from when Popeye was introduced until Segar died. No mention of garlic. In fact, it doesn’t even mention spinach much. In Popeye’s first Thimble Theater adventure, he got luck (not strength) by rubbing the head of the whiffle hen. The bit about spinach came along sometime later. There was a Popeye cartoon made in 1954 called _Greek Mirthology_ in which Popeye tries to get his nephews to eat their spinach by telling them a story about Hercules switching from garlic to spinach. As for spinach being a veiled reference to cocaine - there’s nothing to it, nor to the rumor that it’s a reference to marijuana. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/14 "2013-04-18T08:09:51Z")
Isn’t garlic an antiseptic and a popular component in folk remedies? That seems like the most obvious source. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/15 "2013-04-18T12:19:53Z")
> [@pjnlsn](#): > > Why not lol? it fits. The hell it does > [@](#): > > The aversion to light, the red eyes, the appearance of sickly veins in the person, and the garlic thing? > **[Did vampires suffer from the disease porphyria — or not?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342467/did-vampires-suffer-from-the-disease-porphyria-or-not)** ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/16 "2013-04-18T13:32:18Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Isn’t garlic an antiseptic and a popular component in folk remedies? That seems like the most obvious source. That’s more reasonable, to my thinking. Garlic is mentioned in the medical texts of Ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, India \*and \*China. It’s long been believed to treat and prevent (or “ward off”) ailments of all sorts, and we know now that [it does have some antimicrobial and antiparasitic qualities](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10594976). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/17 "2013-04-18T13:40:10Z")
As Leonard Wolf points out, in _The Annotated Dracula_, > [@](#): > > Garlic is richly and widely praised as a remedy for nearly all the ills of mankind. Emily Gerard tells us that in Saxon Transylvania “neithrer salt nor garlic should ever be given away, as with them the luck goes.” The footnote (#23 to Chapter 10) goes on to explain how garlic was used against witches and illnesses in Transylvania, and has been used as a remedy since Ancient Egypt. Emily Gerad was the author of _The Land Beyond the Forest_, an important guide to Transylvania and, as far as I know, the first to draw a strong connection between vampires and Transylvania\*. Stoker relied on it heavily in researching the background for his book. again, so far as I know, Stoker was the first to specify garlic as an anti-vampire talisman.\*\* As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, Stoker presented his vampiric “facts” as genuine foklklore, but he really made many of them up himself. There’s nothing pre-Dracula about vampires not reflecting in mirrors, for instance. I suspect this is another of his fakelore inventions, and that Gerard’s mentions of the good luck, anti-witch properties ascribed to garlic in Transylvania is the reason you’re looking for. as for the vampire-porphyria link, it’s overblown, as Barber points out in his excellent book _Vampires, Burial, and Death_. Some of the features used to correlate porphyria and vampires aren’t even part of the original vampire _mythos_, including red eyes, aversion to light (vampires were Creatures of the Night, but in literature they certainly walked around in daylight, at least until sunlight became accepted as the thing that Made Vampires Burn Up, which, despite its appearance in _Nosferatu_, didn’t really get :“legs” until Curt Siodmak (again! The man has shaped our monster beliefs) revived it for _Son of Dracula_ and _House of Frankenstein_. A quick perusal of Leslie Klinger’s _New Annotated Dracula_ doesn’t add anything to this, but I’m probably missing it. This is one masive tome, and I ain’y going to search it now. \*The first asociation of vampires with Transylvania in _fiction_ seems to be in Jules Verne’s _Carpathian Castle_, which predates _Dracula_. I suspect he got his information, directly or indirectly, from Gerard. \*\*He also has them use _henbane_, which hasn’t been remembered, for some reason. Not to be confused with _wolfbane_, Kurt Siodmak’s bit of anti-werewof fakelore that did make it into the public consciousness via the Universal movies. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/18 "2013-04-18T14:16:56Z")
Other bits from folklore: (mostly from “[americanfolklore.net](http://americanfolklore.net)”) Garlic was placed by the ancient Greeks on the piles of stones at cross-roads, as a supper for Hecate – a goddess of the wilderness and childbirth, or for protection from demons. The garlic was supposed to the evil spirits and cause them to lose their way. It became custom for Greek midwives to hang garlic cloves in birthing rooms to keep the evil spirits away. The herbalist Culpepper linked garlic with the planet Mars, a fiery planet also connected with blood. According to Pliny, garlic and onions were invoked as deities by the Egyptians at the taking of oaths. European folklore gives garlic the ability to ward off the “evil eye”. Historically, garlic has been used around the world to treat many conditions, including hypertension, infections and snakebites. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/19 "2013-04-18T14:53:40Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > In Popeye’s first Thimble Theater adventure, he got luck (not strength) by rubbing the head of the whiffle hen. The bit about spinach came along sometime later. Also, the wiffle hen saved his life after being shot multiple times. I don’t remember him being all that invulnerable prior to that episode. Man, Segar could milk a plot point though- I don’t know how many days Popeye, near death, lay in the hold of the ship rubbing the hen’s head. It took a real attention span to read comics in those days 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954/20 "2013-04-18T15:52:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The footnote (#23 to Chapter 10) goes on to explain how garlic was used against witches and illnesses in Transylvania, and has been used as a remedy since Ancient Egypt. I was amused by P. N. Elrod’s lampshading of this in the first of her _Vampire Files_ novels, _Bloodlist_. The first time the protagonist, Jack, meets with someone who knows what he is, the guy has lined up as many of the anti-vampire “defenses” as he could manage on short notice, and shows Jack the crucifix and garlic he’d stashed in his desk. > [@Jack Fleming](#): > > As for the garlic, in the part of Europe where it originated as a weapon against vampires it’s a basic cure for just about everything. You got a cold, rheumatism, a headache? Try a little garlic. Troubled by vampires? Use garlic, it can’t hurt. It can’t help, either. What good is something that smells bad against someone who doesn’t have to breathe? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-garlic/655954.md?page=2)