Right. The point of the cookbooks and the shows is to teach (and be entertaining). You don't need to teach anyone to spoon garlic out of a jar, so they're doing everything from scratch using fresh local ingredients that you might not even have access to.

This is fine; the entire tradition of cooking is about adapting to your available resources and creativity.

Some people take this way too seriously. The author and his friend in the opening anecdote appear to have fallen into that trap.

I use fresh garlic, and minced garlic, and (gasp) garlic powder. In fact, I think garlic powder is a better tool for some jobs. Fight me! (I mean, don't actually fight me, it's just garlic.)

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One caveat: if anyone is curious, seriously try fresh lemons. Its such a different ingredient than the bottled stuff they should not go by the same name, and lemons keep well in the fridge.