Garlic was first smuggled to the Isle of Wight from Nazi-occupied France in October 1942.
In the first half of the 20th century, garlic was virtually unknown in English cuisine. This proved to be a massive problem for the Free French forces stationed on the Island during World War II. Around 300 sailors of the French navy were billeted in Cowes and they simply couldn’t stand the blandness of English cooking.
Cauliflower, boiled cabbage and mashed potatoes simply just weren’t the same without the flavour of the pungent bulb.
The sailors complained to Bill Spidy – landlord of the Painter’s Arms in Cowes – about their gallic cravings. How could they possibly fight if their food tasted unwholesome?
Garlic could not be acquired for love or money on the Island in the 1940s. Mr Spidy took their request to the Special Operations Executive at RAF Tangmere in Sussex. The request was taken seriously and Operation Achilles to smuggle the bulb to England under the noses of the Nazis was launched.
On 27th October 1942, under the cover of darkness, Flight Officer John Bridger landed a Lyslander airplane in a field near Clermont Ferrand in central France. A farmer carried a precious cargo of garlic bulbs to the plane to be flown across the Channel and grown on the Isle of Wight.
Mr Spidy – who was head of the local gardening club – then cultivated it on his farm for the French armed forces stationed locally.
Although the use of garlic in cookery did not become popular in England until around the 1970s, it was grown on the Island long before this.
Colin Boswell – owner of the Garlic Farm – claims his mother started cultivating garlic in her kitchen garden in the 1950s. Today, the Garlic farm produces 150 tonnes of the bulb annually.
Do you love or loathe garlic? Is its presence in the English diet a blessing or a curse? Let us know in the comments…
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