Allium ursinum

I have really no idea what people prefer to call this plant in English since there seem to be a lot of names for it: ramsons, buckrams, wild garlic, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek or bear's garlic ([link]. In German it is called Bärlauch which would equal bear leek (good example for showing that both languages are related).

It is a common herb in Europe and tastes and smells similar to garlic. The forest floors in this area are full of it and although I live a few blocks away from the woods, that garlic smell sometimes comes through my window That herb was used a lot in the 'old days' and known since before the medieval, but was forgotten for a while until it became a 'fashionable' food in the past few years. Lots of people would buy the herbs in the store, but seem to have no idea that it is growing for free all around them. Also some fear that they might mistaken it for similar poisonous plants (although I think that is silly since the similar plants have different flowers and clearly don't smell like garlic). I think it is kind of sad that the old knowledge about e.g. herbs seems to be lost, but on the other side if more people knew these things all herbs would be extinct since humans like to exploit nature .