The vegetable garden
May 19, 2020
4 minutes
■ From AG 21 August 1915
In praise of onions
AN onion a day keeps the doctor away. So runs an old North Country adage, and a writer in a contemporary publication adds that a well-known northern clergyman never tires of speaking of their virtues as allayers of hunger, and for ‘lengthening the wind’. He is much addicted to pedestrianism, but never ventures forth without a succulent ‘Spanish’ onion in his pocket, and has walked continuously for 12 hours.
Dean Swift [the author Jonathan Swift] held that it was the opinion of every cook that no savoury dish could be perfect without an onion, and he wittily commented thereon by saying: “But lest your kissing should be spoiled, Your onions should be thoroughly boiled.”
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