is there anywhere in the world....

[dellzeqq]

without onions? I've seen onions in the Arctic and in the Tropics. Are they the ultimate food san frontieres? And, if not, what is?

 

[Fab Foodie]

Rabbits are quite cosmopolitan too... this is a good thing because Onions alone could get a bit repetative (in all senses of the word).

 

[accountantpete]

I have often wondered how the French onion sellers made any money - were the onions like a Quid each or something?

 

[Fab Foodie]

I have often wondered how the French onion sellers made any money - were the onions like a Quid each or something?

I always thought that mounted like that on a bike that they were some kind of 'Organic Fairing'

 

[accountantpete]

No - I don't think they needed fairings in them days

 

[srw]

This is wikipedia, so I can't vouch for its accuracy, but it rings a bell. Though I can't say that my Jain member of staff (India by way of Kenya and Australia) abstains from onions - he is "merely" vegetarian.

In certain versions of Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism, vegetables of the onion genus are taboo.Among Hindus many people discourage eating onion and garlic along with non-vegetarian food during festivals or Hindu holy months of Shrawan and Kartik. However,discouraging onion and garlic is not so much popular among Hindus as compared to non-vegetarian foods and many people are leaving these custom of not eating onion-garlic. Jains not only abstain from consumption of meat, but also don't eat root vegetables (such as carrots, potatoes, radish, turnips etc) as they believe in ahimsa. It must be noted that meat/root vegetables are abstained from in dharmic religions not out of revulsion but rather due to respect for the living being. Chinese Buddhist cuisine traditionally prohibits garlic, Allium chinense, asafoetida, shallot, and Allium victorialis (victory onion or mountain leek), while Kashmiri Brahmins forbid "strong flavored" foods. This encompasses garlic, onion, and spices such as black pepper and chili pepper, believing that pungent flavors on the tongue inflame the baser emotions. In Jainism, any kind of roots are considered taboo, since the process of uprooting causes the organisms associated with the root in the soil to die.