Red Onions

[Rogar]

On occasion my father would slice a red onion about a fourth of an inch thick to be placed on a single slice of white bread with a little salt. I never had any real objection to this, but also never the motivation or adventure to give it a try. A couple of recent NYT articles have praised the raw red onion on bread and it's other forms. I had thought Dad was maybe just weird or maybe something he picked up in the service, but now I know there is an onion cult with similar behavior. It's now on my bucket list to try.

"...I predicted that maybe a few brave readers would join in agreement. But I was expecting mostly just reactions of distaste and disgust. What I did not expect was the overwhelmingly emotional response it elicited in so many for whom onions seemed to have unlocked an outpouring of memories... Others have hesitantly tried my combination of red onion, lemon juice and salt on white bread and emailed me to say I have changed their lives and their definitions of a midday snack...To eat an onion raw is to experience life itself on a microcosmic plane, complete with all the detritus, essences and odors that make up its presence.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/insider/raw-onions-readers.html

[catherine]

I'm totally into red onions, but I have to say, I usually eat them with something between the bread and red onion, like lox, or liverwurst.

I'm game for trying red onion on bread snacks, though! Nothing nostalgic about it, though.

[JaneV2.0]

I love onions in all their varieties; I have red onions on my grocery list (to pickle). Maybe I'll give it a try. On rye.
But oh--Walla Walla sweet slices would be sublime.

[Rogar]

On rye. But oh--Walla Walla sweet slices would be sublime.

Hmmm. Good idea!

[GeorgeParker]

Hmmm. Good idea!

Onions belong to the genus Stinkus Deliciosa. They cause watering of the eyes and rubefaction of the skin, but they are very very tasty.

[KayLR]

Love red onions too! I quick-pickle them sometimes to add to salad. Would be great on a sandwich, too. Think smorgasbord: fish, rye, onion, dill.

[jp1]

I once had a professor who claimed that if one's nose was completely blocked one couldn't tell the difference between an onion and an apple when eating it. I mentioned this to my roommate and he tried it. Perhaps it would work with a white onion with the really thin layers, but the yellow onion he ate fell apart into the layers in his mouth, making it obvious it wasn't an apple.

[GeorgeParker]

I once had a professor who claimed that if one's nose was completely blocked one couldn't tell the difference between an onion and an apple when eating it. I mentioned this to my roommate and he tried it. Perhaps it would work with a white onion with the really thin layers, but the yellow onion he ate fell apart into the layers in his mouth, making it obvious it wasn't an apple.

But could he taste that it wasn't an apple? I think that's what the professor meant.