The fears dissipated when he woke up, before having to go light the bonfire. Finally, the sun and a pleasant temperature were joining the party. Because that was again this Thursday, Roasted Garlic Day, in its nineteenth edition: a party in which the people of Arneda invited thousands of people in the center of the city of footwear to participate in their family and group custom in the orchards. .
“Who expected this day?!” greeted David, one of the eighty volunteers who made possible an edition plus the gear to enjoy one of the tourist days par excellence in the city. With the idea of giving content to the morning of Holy Thursday and preventing the people of Arneda from leaving the city but allowing visitors to arrive, that was the initial purpose and continues to be that of the Neighborhood Association of the Old Town, organizer of the event with the support of the City Council and the Government of La Rioja. «As long as it didn’t rain, I was already calm seeing how the predictions were. “But we didn’t expect this sun,” smiled José María Martínez de Quel, president of the Old Town. “From 10:30 we already had people waiting to try and have roasted garlic for lunch.”
On the left, the Arnedan custom roasts fresh garlic on the embers. To the right, the public gathered along the tables arranged in Juan Carlos I to savor the garlic and roasted eggs in the Arnedana way.
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Two hours before, before that desired scenario of spring sun, the eighty volunteers started up the machinery for the day. The first step, with the collaboration of the municipal works brigade, is to light the bonfire on the sand and the metal sheets scattered in the central Puerta Munillo. A total of 590 sheaves would pass through the fire to feed the embers that would roast the 9,000 fresh garlic and 2,250 eggs that were waiting in boxes at its side.
Next to the bonfire, braziers to roast or finish touching other handfuls of garlic and eggs to prevent them from breaking. Next to it, tables to clean the garlic from the ash, cut it, bag it and take it to the table to serve the public. Little by little, as the clock ticked, Juan Carlos I Street was filling up. At the other end, already stepping on the Plaza Nuestra Señora de Vico, another group of volunteers were selling tickets for the tasting at a stand. Next to it, a table invited you to pour the wines from the Vico cooperative winery down your throat.
A team of 80 volunteers makes it possible to roast 9,000 garlic and 2,250 eggs, clean them and subsequently distribute them to the public.
The public filled the tables on Juan Carlos I Street to learn how to taste garlic as Arnedana custom dictates.
On a stage on one of the sides of the street, the El Emboque round brought traditional sound to the aroma and flavor of the Arnedana orchard. Because its sweet and intoxicating aroma conquered the city center as it does in the orchards. Throughout Juan Carlos I, long tables filled with people willing to delve into the flavor that the bags contained: four garlic cloves and a roasted egg. And they learned from the Arnedans how to clean the trail of embers, how to raise it above the throat and slide it gently over the palate. And to repeat.
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