The nightshade family also gives us a lot of important vegetables. Potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers being the most common but others as well.
And then there’s Brassica oleracea, where it’s not even a family, but one single species that brings us a heap of classic veggies including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, and gai lan. If you expand to its family you can add turnip, bok choy, radish, wasabi, as well as the majority of source vegetables in the eponymous “vegetable oil”.
That’s an existential crisis I’ve had after starting to eat vegan. Suddenly everything in your cupboard is a plant, with the exception of salt and sometimes mushrooms.
It’s just like: I’ll now eat this noodle-shaped plant with this pureed plant and this protein-rich plant and I’ll also throw in some tasty plant shreds. Maybe I should also have some plant leaves with a dressing out of plant oil, fermented plant juice and this plant seed paste.
But then I realized that meat, eggs, cheese, milk, and even mushrooms, they’re all just processed/digested plants, too. So, there’s only plants and salt. Which really didn’t make the existential crisis any better, but at least we’re all in it together. 🙃
And Cavolo Romano!
Brussel sprouts? That’s not a vegetable, that’s heresy! Awful stuff. The rest can be good, depending on the context though.
For what it’s worth, though I don’t think I’ve ever had them in any form, I’ve heard that the poor reputation of Brussels sprouts is due to the popular way of cooking them in the '30s through '80s being to boil the shit out of them. They’re supposed to be quite good if you cook them the right way.
The culinary history of humanity is just one long dare about eating the killer plants.
I love all those vegetables but if I had to give up allium or nightshades, I’d give up nightshades.
I once had a coworker who just took a bite out of a raw onion right in front of me. They were completely unfazed, like it was an apple or something. I’m still a little emotionally scarred.
I had a surly paternal grandmother who seemed to revel in making the lives of children miserable.
When I was about four years old, I asked for a snack, and she gave me a raw onion.
I sat at the kitchen table and ate the entire fucking thing like it was the sweetest piece of fruit known to history, staring her in the eye the whole time.
If I had been just a little bit older and thought of it, I would’ve asked her for another one.
She died when I was seven. My reaction to this, as she lived in Washington State, was, “Does that mean we get to see Mount Saint Helens?” as the volcano had gone off just a couple weeks prior.
I once knew a guy who peeled and ate a full garlic like one would do with an orange or mandarin, while walking and talking casually.
There are actually onions that you can do that with. I think the soil where those are grown is low on sulfer or something so the onion cant make the chemical responsible for making your eyes water.
No, I don’t think so. He was a younger guy from the southern US, if I remember correctly. Is that something east europeans do on the regular??
Younger guy from the southern US here, I have done this just to fuck with people. I’m just not very sensitive to the “bite” onions are supposed to have. I can chop quite a few of them before my eyes start to water.
Allium family also make the world nicer, even those for the kitchen have nice flowers if planted.
There are several webs of ornamental allium which show how to plant and care for them, the different species, etc.
Wow!! Do they grow that spherical or are those groomed??
Either way, beautiful!!
When someone says they hate onions you know they are the most boring person ever.
Some people have intolerances to onions, and I feel so, so sorry for them. I can’t think of many meals where onions don’t improve the flavour.
It’s hard. I still eat garlic on occasion, even though it makes me sick. Luckily, I’ve always had a bad reaction with an onion, so my body rejects the flavor too
The first time I got covid it really messed with my smell and taste. Any kind of onions just smelled and tasted completely rotten, even onion powder. Ruined all my favorite foods, even if it was just a small part of the meal. I had just made some pickled red onions and I couldn’t eat them for like 6-8 months. Worst part of covid for me by far.
I like the taste of onions, but I hate the structure of them cooked. EDIT: and yeah, I am pretty boring.
Not allergic, but the very thought of onions (and garlic) in pregnancy made me feel sick. Smelling them or seeing them cooked (with their translucent little stripes) would have me heaving. All the foods I love have onions and garlic in. It was awful.
It’s odd, after years of washing dishes for a job I can’t stand the smell of garlic or onions when it is coming from the grease left over on a plate or cook wear, but when they are first being cooked the aroma makes my mouth water.
The nose, she is fickle.
I don’t mind the flavor, but the texture mixes well with absolutely nothing.
At a small enough size they don’t have a texture just kind of float into the background. Got to dice those babies
They’re the worst when diced, especially in something like stir fry. Your chewing your rice/veggie similar consistency mix then all the sudden you get either a crunchy flake (for uncooked onions) or a tiny piece of wet paper (for cooked).
I realize this rant is childish, but my sensory issues make this a big deal for me and I need to put my foot down… even if it causes my heel to light up.
Cooked onions, I suppose I’d agree. They’re just kinda mushy. Raw onions on the other hand have a great crunchy texture to me.
Thick sliced raw onion rings on burgers fluffs the whole thing up a bit and adds some airy crunch.
They add a nice crunchy texture to Greek salad as well.
Cut into lengthwise strips, they’re similarly fun in stir-fry if you don’t cook them too long.
Diced on top of a tostada or taco or bagel with cream cheese and lox, they add a little crunchy something but admittedly this could be also be achieved with pretty much anything not-squishy.
This is awesome. lol. I never once thought of adding air to my burgers. If I want crunch I’d add some bacon or even curly fries
I still remember my first burger with all the condiments on it, i was a ketchup and cheese only kid. It absolutely blew my mind back then lol
I remember my first burger, I didn’t like them because of the lettuce, then one day I was hanging out with my mom and her colleagues and we go to a nice burger place, mom tells me to not make a fuss and eat the burger. I didn’t want to look like an annoying kid so I took a bite, what a BANGER!!! I still remember it! I obviously devoured the whole thing but I’ve basically been cool with lettuce and onions since! I’m still nostalgic about that place, I never went back sadly…
Or they are a super taster. I love spices, curry, cumin, hot peppers (even Carolina reaper), and have been to twenty five countries but onion is fucking disgusting and I never ever want to eat one.
