Are kids these days doing something with garlic?

May 31, 2021 1:23 AM

My teenage boy had a head of garlic on his bedside table. I said, "What is this doing here?" and he kind of laughingly said, "You don't want to know." Is this...a thing that kids are doing? Is there some naughtiness at hand? Some viral challenge? Of course maybe it's just some random nothing but I just wanted to ask if any of you parents has any idea?

Kid is a high school senior, typically a pretty good boy, FWIW. The head is missing a few cloves, but I think it was already like that due to me, you know, cooking with it. I see no evidence of garlic peels in his room, and he's sloppy enough that I think I would if he'd been peeling them. When I told kid, "I"m putting this back in the kitchen" he didn't object. Should I throw away this garlic??

posted by anonymous to Grab Bag (9 answers total)

There's all kinds of lore garlic does things when consumed, in whole uncooked cloves, or is around a person or is rubbed into this skin though you'd likely notice if your son started smelling like garlic. Everything from warding off vampires to lowering blood pressure. So who knows.

As far as I know there is not a new thing, and nothing particularly that would make a bulb of garlic unusable .

It could what be a dare or a prank or him just messing with you. But overall unpeeled garlic chilling in its plant home is just fine.
posted by AlexiaSky at 1:35 AM on May 31, 2021

TikTok has a garlic challenge that is filming yourself eating raw garlic.
posted by MadMadam at 1:56 AM on May 31, 2021 [29 favorites]

He's flirting with a goth/vampire girl who told him she was coming to get him and he went "unh-uh! I'm putting a clove of garlic on my bedstand!" (posts picture).
posted by zengargoyle at 2:00 AM on May 31, 2021 [7 favorites]

As a teenager, I 100% would have a) absent-mindedly picked up a clove of garlic in the kitchen and brought it back to my room without thinking, b) set it on my bedside table to remind myself to take it back, and keep forgetting anyway, then c) said something weird like that when my mom asked, just to be weird.

So it could be the mildest of weirdness.
posted by rhiannonstone at 2:18 PM on May 31, 2021 [7 favorites]

Should I throw away this garlic??

I'm just gonna go ahead and state that your child has not poisoned the garlic.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:11 PM on May 31, 2021 [1 favorite]

The only thing I turned up on Reddit is that Garlicoin is a cryptocurrency. Doesn’t seem to involve actual garlic though.
posted by MexicanYenta at 3:14 PM on May 31, 2021

I'm just gonna go ahead and state that your child has not poisoned the garlic.

With a teenage boy, the question is more whether the child has done something unspeakable with it.
posted by praemunire at 4:28 PM on May 31, 2021 [18 favorites]

That'll cook off.
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:52 PM on May 31, 2021 [3 favorites]

He said, "You don't want to know," and you said, "Ok" and walked out?

If I were your teen, I would really appreciate your reaction. Most of my friend's parents and most of my friends that are now parents, would have pressed them on it.

I never tried that. I did tell the truth. My mom once asked me if I had been drinking. I decided on the spot that a good offense was the best defense. "Yes, mom. I had 7 beers and I am going to sleep." I walked right past her up the stairs to my room. Never heard another word about it.

Anyway, my guess is that he was warding off vampires.
posted by AugustWest at 6:25 PM on May 31, 2021 [3 favorites]