Gung Ho For Gilroy, California's Garlic Festival

For fans of bad breath and wacky food combinations, the Gilroy Garlic Festival is like a mecca. The event, which started 30 years ago, has now turned into one of the country’s largest food festivals. Last year over 100,000 fans headed to Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy, California to check out what’s new and unique in the world of garlic cooking and garlic products.

Make sure you skip breakfast, because you’ll need a lot of room to sample all the offerings in Gourmet Alley. Garlic bread, garlic fries, and stuffed mushrooms are just some of the halitosis-inducing foods awaiting you and your crew. If you like what you taste, plenty of cooking demonstrations will teach you how to make your favorites when you return home. Just leave a little bit of room for dessert, because of course there’s garlic ice cream too.

In terms of festival entertainment, Top Chef competitor Fabio Viviani will be on hand during the festival to host the Garlic Showdown competition. Four chefs from the Bay Area will do their best to create taste sensations in an Iron-Chef style cooking shootout. If cooking isn't your thing, there'll also be plenty of music to keep you going throughout the day, and the Miss Gilroy Garlic Queen will be around to say hello—she won't mind your bad breath.

Admission will set you back $12, which we feel is a little pricey. However, since you’ll likely be driving—Gilroy, California is about 30 minutes south of San Jose—parking is free. This year’s festival is July 24-26, but it’s always the last full weekend in July, just in case you want to start planning for the 2010 festival.

Discover how I cured my nasty Bad Breath here.

Source Jaunted - USA

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