As I was chopping several onions last night while cooking dinner, I started to contemplate on this vegetable and how, until recently, I really never liked onions. Onions seemed to always rub me the wrong way. They often left me with a pungent, lingering taste in my mouth that seemed to last for days. I disliked them because they stung my eyes horribly while chopping them up. I remember picking pieces of onions out of prepared meals and discarding them with disgust. And then there was the turning point. I don't know when exactly the shift took place, but suddenly I was cooking a lot with onions. Like almost daily. Red onions, Vidalia, Spanish -- you name it. They just didn't seem to bother me anymore. I actually have grown rather fond of them.
Did you know that the onion is one of the oldest vegetables and can be found in recipes spanning the entire world? Traces of onion have even been found next to fig stones dating back to 5000 BC. The onion is also one of the easiest vegetables to be transported and stored, staying fresh, for long periods of time. Perhaps this is why it was so popular among seafarers back in the day before modern refrigeration.
The onion also has many ancient medicinal properties, one of which states that Roman gladiators rubbed down with onion to firm up their muscles. Doctors were known to prescribe onions to facilitate bowel movements, relieve headaches and even replenish hair loss. Modern day remedies include curing the common cold to prevention against heart disease.
I guess where I'm going with all this is that specific "tastes" grow and change, evolve and reinvent. And that's one of the magical gifts of life. It doesn't have to pertain to "food" tastes, either. It can be a specific genre of music, a friend, or even a hobby. Personally, I can relate this to my adjustment to a new "career" as a stay-at-home mom. It is quite obvious, during the past year, that I have been rebelling and refusing the validity and importance of this new role. What I have lacked to realize is that just because I have bundled up inside so many negative, predisposed images of this new "career" doesn't mean I can't find new, positive, purposeful ways to live each day. Just because I didn't like "you" before doesn't mean I can't like "you" now.
So back to the onion. The fact that I never really liked onions, until recently, is probably due to becoming more aware and discarding those old, negative, predisposed notions of taste. So, cheers to you my onion friend. As fickle as you may be with your sometimes sharp, tangy, spicy, and sweet taste, you are a wise old chum and a wonderful accompaniment to any meal. May you continue to flourish in my recipes and add a spice of life to many dinners to come!
Now was that kinda of a weird post?
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