Garlic bread: A conundrum of a symbol for aros and aces
Garlic bread is an iconic symbol in both the aromantic and asexual communities. Beloved by many, it’s a fun inside joke for those on the community. But it is quite the confusing symbol with it popping up in both aro and ace spaces. Is garlic bread an aro symbol, or does it go with the aces?
The meaning behind this symbol is essentially garlic bread > sex or romance.
While the details of this garlicky treat are unclear, it seems to have first emerged as a bit of meme from the ace community based upon the analogy cake > sex, so they also went garlic bread > sex. Garlic bread in the ace community is used in a similar fashion to cake.
Now, this is where things get a bit tricky.
It seems that, at first, garlic bread was adopted as asexual symbol. I’ve read in a thread of people talking about coming with a food as an aromantic symbol and mentioning how garlic bread was adopted in some communities as an asexual symbol which would imply the aces used garlic bread as a symbol first. But before doing additional research to make this post, I mostly thought of garlic bread as an aro symbol.
In the thread mentioned above, people talked about ice cream as a potential aro symbol. Nowadays, ice cream is also a bit of an aro symbol, and I theorize it may have sprung up since garlic bread was once largely claimed by the aces.
It seems there is quite a bit of history behind garlic bread being a symbol for those on the aspec. Personally, I’ve seen more about garlic bread as an aro symbol than as an ace symbol. But it also seems aces were the first to claim it as a symbol. The Urban Dictionary definition of garlic bread mentions it as the “official food of the asexuals”, and nowhere does it mention aromantic. But you can find stuff in both aro and ace communities regarding garlic bread as the food symbol.
I mostly see people using cake for aces and garlic bread for aros. But I’m also aware that garlic bread is also big among some ace communities. The line between the two is blurry, and garlic bread isn’t just an aro or ace symbol.
All in all, the history of these communities is a bit muddled. The relationship the communities have with garlic bread is a unique and interesting one. Garlic bread as a symbol is somewhat ambiguous. It seems to be a shared thing along the aros and aces.
But I’d like to know, what are your experience with garlic bread as a symbol for these communities? How do you view the relationship the aro and ace communities have with garlic bread? Feel free to share your thoughts!