Wednesday 26 May 2010

Raw onion hatred

I have a question: at what point does a request for salad in one's lunchtime sandwich constitute a desire for chopped raw onion? It confounds and frustrates me, this incessant need for it to be sprinkled in every shop-bought salad and sandwich in the UK. If you hadn't guessed, I loathe raw onion, especially when it is disguised in my food as a necessary condiment. When I request 'salad', I want lettuce, tomato and cucumber – NOT little bits of stinkbomb that linger on the breath all afternoon. I will pick every single bit of onion out of my sandwich, even if it takes ages.

Raw onion occupies a long-lived status on my list of food hates along with lamb, processed mayonnaise and any kind of offal.

You have been warned.

9 comments:

  1. I love raw onion in a salad, but would not expect to find it in sandwich sold in a predominantly office-based area on a weekday lunch time! Who wants to breathe raw onion on their colleagues?!

    But at home, a salad is not a salad without some raw (preferably red) onion!

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  2. Argh - my dislike of raw onion transgresses even office lunch food, I can't bear it in anything, even if I'm eating something solo and not risking being unsociable...

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  3. Here's a cooking tip: you can "tame" onion by covering it with something acidic (like lemon juice or vinegar) in a bowl, and then microwaving it for 30 seconds.

    Leave to cool, drain, dry.

    It takes the nastiness out of the onion and makes it much nicer in salads.

    I slice red onion and nuke with some vinegar before using in Greek salads.

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  4. I adore cooked onions but raw are just nasty! Accidentally ate a cheese and onion sandwich a while back, was just horrible!

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  5. WHAAAAT?!

    Raw red onion is a primary component of ALL my salads (mind you, so is 1 finely-chopped chili, so not too sure of this statement's validity). The strength and bite is essential for flavour and dynamic crunch; it gives that mouth-zapping zing. Nom.

    And lamb...wha'?! Lamb and onion salads are 26 bags of awesome, one of my faves.

    Weird girl.

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  6. Hmm. 'Raw Onion' actually translates as 'form of pantry evil' in many tribal dialects...

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  7. Onions should be an option, like crack black pepper (are you listening M&S Food?) not added automatically. And in a lunch time sandwich - doubly so!

    I have said to BF that if he has raw onion in his salad, then he says goodbye to a smooch for a few days. I hate the smell of it. I can't even eat cheese and onion crisps because the taste won't go away. Cooked onions are fine though.

    (Can't agree on the lamb though, loooove me a good piece of that.)

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  8. I cannot resist adding my mate W's comment:

    "Jeez mate. You got a raw onion hating friend in me. Pub bloody grub! Oh, can I have a salad as my side dish please? Yes sir, of course. Allow me to bring you an offering of limp, slimey leaves peppered with large chunks of scabby raw onion (occaisionally the White varieties, but more often than not the much more sophisticated red onion). There is no need; not in a sandwhich, not in a salad, not in a pseudo posh dressing. Onion adding freaks.......NO! LEAVE IT!"

    A true soulmate. haha!

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  9. Anne - Yes! That!
    Our local kebab delivery place now has "no-chilli-no-onions" as our default.

    My dad used to eat a raw onion like an apple. Still gives me The Fear.

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