Clove of garlic
A clove of garlic is a type of comestible that appears in NetHack. Garlic is vegan, and also has a secondary use for warding off certain monsters.
Contents
Generation
In addition to random generation, Priests start with 1-2 cloves of garlic in their inventory.[1]
Tourists will sometimes start with cloves of garlic among their initial stacks of food.[2]
Description
A clove of garlic takes one turn to eat and gives 40 nutrition; it can be used to tame horses and feed herbivores.[3]
Undead and garlic
A clove of garlic on a square will prevent any undead monster other than a ghost or shade from entering that square;[4] covetous undead such as master liches can still warp to a stair with garlic on it. Hitting an undead monster with a clove of garlic will cause them to flee for 2-8 turns.[5]
If you eat a clove of garlic while polymorphed into an undead monster, you will vomit.[6] Undead pets will not eat garlic.
Origin
Garlic (Allium sativum) is a species of bulbous flowering plant whose close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, and chive,. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeastern Iran and has long been used as a seasoning and traditional medicine worldwide for several thousand years. Garlic is present in the folklore of many cultures that treat it as a means of protection or white magic, perhaps owing to its reputation in folk medicine.
Central European folk beliefs in particular considered garlic a powerful ward against demons, werewolves, and vampires; to ward off vampires, garlic could be worn, hung in windows, or rubbed on chimneys and keyholes. The use of garlic to specifically ward against vampires was popularized by novels such as Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula.
Encyclopedia entry
1 November - All day long we have travelled, and at a good speed. The horses seem to know that they are being kindly treated, for they go willingly their full stage at best speed. We have now had so many changes and find the same thing so constantly that we are encouraged to think that the journey will be an easy one. Dr. Van Helsing is laconic, he tells the farmers that he is hurrying to Bistritz, and pays them well to make the exchange of horses. We get hot soup, or coffee, or tea, and off we go. It is a lovely country. Full of beauties of all imaginable kinds, and the people are brave, and strong, and simple, and seem full of nice qualities. They are very, very superstitious. In the first house where we stopped, when the woman who served us saw the scar on my forehead, she crossed herself and put out two fingers towards me, to keep off the evil eye. I believe they went to the trouble of putting an extra amount of garlic into our food, and I can't abide garlic. Ever since then I have taken care not to take off my hat or veil, and so have escaped their suspicions.
