# Who decided onions go on almost everything? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873 "2011-08-07T22:32:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/1 "2011-08-07T22:32:55Z")
As you might guess, I really hate onions. Why do people put something with such a strong flavor on so many foods - burgers, hotdogs, and so on. In many cases they overwhelm every other flavor. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/2 "2011-08-07T22:35:56Z")
I’m of the same opinion. To me, onions are the most vile food on the planet. When I was younger, mom put onions into everything…meatloaf, spaghetti, you name it. No idea why or how they’re so loved. They make me gag when I taste them (even the smell does it). ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/3 "2011-08-07T22:38:30Z")
Onions are the perfect food. They should put it in milk, breakfast cereal, coffee, and ice cream. Garlic too. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/4 "2011-08-07T22:41:07Z")
If they are so good why don’t more people just eat onions on their own? Like apples, oranges, peaches , plums, grapes, blueberries, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/5 "2011-08-07T22:42:36Z")
My wife’s basic rule of cooking is as follows: “Unless you’re baking a cake, first sautי one onion”. I like that rule. Maybe the OP has just eaten too many raw onions; you need a bit of heat to leech out most of the sharpness, leaving only the sweetness behind (onions, after all, are as sweet as apples). ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/6 "2011-08-07T22:42:41Z")
I’ve learned to tolerate onions in very small pieces (and very small amounts of those pieces), but I hated them when I was younger. Even now I almost always omit them from recipes or substitute shallots. I’m with **zoid** on garlic, though. I’d put it on my cereal if it didn’t clash with the milk. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/7 "2011-08-07T22:42:47Z")
Alium uber alles. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/8 "2011-08-07T22:43:55Z")
No I hate them in all forms. My goal in life is to invent a virus that wipes them off the planet. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/9 "2011-08-07T22:44:42Z")
Over my dead body! ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/10 "2011-08-07T22:48:50Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > **Who decided onions go on almost everything?** All right, I confess. It was me. -Malleus “and garlic too, don’t forget” Incus Stapes ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/11 "2011-08-07T22:55:37Z")
People with taste buds decided. Onions are proof that Nature loves us. And **Bijou** , I eat onions raw, like apples. A good red onion is a great snack. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/12 "2011-08-07T22:57:39Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > My wife’s basic rule of cooking is as follows: “Unless you’re baking a cake, first sautי one onion”. I like that rule. My mother’s version goes along the lines of “All good meals start with the chopping of an onion”. And her other favourite is “A meal without onions is like a day without sunshine”. Luckily for me I like them. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/13 "2011-08-07T23:07:10Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > If they are so good why don’t more people just eat onions on their own? Like apples, oranges, peaches , plums, grapes, blueberries, and so on. Wait…other people don’t do that? ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/14 "2011-08-07T23:25:57Z")
do you know that any food cooked without onions can make your ears drop off? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/15 "2011-08-07T23:33:32Z")
Sometimes I think I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t have an extreme aversion to a particular food. Every single food in the world seems to have at least a small group of people willing to decry it on the internet. I, on the other hand, like pretty much everything. Especially onions. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/16 "2011-08-07T23:36:02Z")
Onions are God’s way of letting us know he loves us. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/17 "2011-08-07T23:37:25Z")
I also don’t like fish, seafood and peanut butter. But I do eat about 99% of food out there so it’s not hard for me to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/18 "2011-08-07T23:39:21Z")
I like the flavor onions gives to dishes, but hate goddamn onion chunks. A lot of times I’ll take a recipe with onions (i.e. Chicken Noodle Soup), put the onions in, and then remove them during the straining process. Onions themselves are just vile, but onion powder, onion salt, and onion flavoring are good. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/19 "2011-08-07T23:48:13Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Onions are God’s way of letting us know he loves us. No, that’s beer. I can’t eat raw onions unless I’m willing to be sick for a couple of days. However, when I start cooking a meal, I DO grab an onion and start chopping for just about everything. My husband will walk in and take a good whiff, and smile. I don’t know how I’d cook without the allium family. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873/20 "2011-08-07T23:48:20Z")
They’re relatively easy to grow, so they’re cheap and they impart a ton of flavor: easy enough to see how it was decided that they go on everything. I hate them, the entire onion family of scallions, leeks, shallots, et al. This has been a lifelong fight with my family, who insist that I don’t really dislike them as much as I think. There are finally enough of us non-oniony types that we get the two bowls of potato salad or whatever at family gatherings, woo! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-onions-go-on-almost-everything/591873.md?page=2)