From June until October, countless garlic markets take place in the southwest of France. Every weekend, producers and traders in a village, Uzés (24 June), Sauzet (last Sunday in July), Hyéres (24 August) or Piolenc (last weekend in August), meet on a market square and offer their tubers - often plaited into pretty braids.
Especially the market in Lautrec on the first Friday and Saturday in August is worth a visit, because then the village celebrates the beginning of the new marketing period of their Ail Rosé, which is known far beyond the borders of the municipality, with a festival.

Lautrec pink garlic is not only beautiful to look at, it is also considered particularly tasty, storable and healthy. The quality comes from the clay and chalky slopes of the Tarn where the bulb is grown.
And from the strict rules that the producers have to follow so that their bulbs can bear the EU-protected geographical indication "Pink Garlic of Lautrec". Every year, the 300 farmers of the district harvest about 4000 tonnes in the fields - ten percent of the total French production. The festival starts at 8.00 in the morning with the opening of the stalls. From 10.00 a.m. the competitions begin:

The awarding of the most beautiful sculpture made of garlic and the competition for the longest garlic bunch, the manouille. Six to eight growers in a team tie garlic to garlic until after three hours a metre-long braid is created.
In 2009, the total length was 22.29 metres. The sale value is then donated to charity. Around noon, visitors receive a free meal: Garlic soup, the local speciality, ladled out of huge soup kettles. And a glass of rosé. In the evening, cassoulet is served - and danced to.