Friday's Unscientific Poll: Raw Onions

[nanila]

Poll #17548 Raw onions

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 61

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When presented with raw onions in a dish, I

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think, "Yum!" and eat them with pleasure.
20 (32.8%)

am indifferent.
18 (29.5%)

think, "Oh no!" and pick them out.
23 (37.7%)

This poll brought to you by the aggravating experience of being ambushed by a small pocket of raw onion hidden in a burger I was otherwise enjoying, right at the very end. I do not like raw onion in my food. Cooked/caramelised onion: fine! Raw onion, I don't understand. If I eat raw onion, I can taste nothing but onion for the rest of the meal, and sometimes for an hour afterward, even if I've brushed my teeth.

Comments

[aella_irene]

Raw onions taste raw, right in the back of my throat. I make involuntary faces.

Yes, even raw red onions, which are annoyingly common in salads.

[nanila]

I'm the same, with white and red onions. It's particularly infuriating to be unable to shake the taste for so long.

[davidgillon]

I was very slow to being able to tolerate even cooked onion, and it's still in no ways a favourite. Raw onion, nope, not going there.

[nanila]

Yep. Also, I don't mind as long as their presence is glaringly obvious, so I can pick them out. It's when they're concealed and I bite into them and then I know the rest of my meal is ruined. That's when I resent them.

[azurelunatic]

It depends on the onion and the dish! The larger the chunk I'm confronted with, the worse.

Some onions will make my sweat smell of onion for three days.

[nanila]

Some onions will make my sweat smell of onion for three days.

Now that would really drive me bonkers. It's bad enough having to taste the things for hours afterward.

[perennialanna]

Raw red onions are delicious, but I prefer white onions cooked. I am a onion-lover though.

[nanila]

White onions seem to be more powerfully onion-y.

[highlyeccentric]

I have grown to appreciate raw red onion. Raw regular onion, no.

[nanila]

Red onion trumps white onion for me, cooked. But raw, I can't cope with either. :(

[legionseagle]

I prefer red onions to eat completely raw (white onions sliced fine and done in salt and lemon juice, though, are delectable).

That said, I did wonder yesterday whether my onion preferences are my body telling me I need more vitamin C.

[nanila]

Possibly! I'm afraid raw onions will never be my own go-to vitamin C source, no matter how much they contain.

You're the second person to mention onions in lemon juice. I must try this & see if it agrees with me any better.

[ankaret]

Peter is capable of eating entire raw onions and at one point was regularly taking raw onion, garlic and tuna (the tuna was straight out of a tin, I cannot be doing with tuna and therefore have no idea if that counts as raw or not) sandwiches along to eat at a diabetic support group. I can only hope the other diabetics were also allium lovers, or else had heavy colds.

[perennialanna]

Tinned tuna is cooked.

[ankaret]

Thank you! That may explain why the cats always turn their noses up at it.

[miss_s_b]

"raw onion, garlic and tuna"

*lets the icon do the talking*

[ankaret]

He has weird tastebuds. My brother brought some of those 'eat these and sour things taste sweet' pills to Christmas dinner a couple of years ago along with lemon and grapefruit slices, and Peter was happy to eat lemons without benefit of the pills.

I did feel for the other diabetics, though.

[miss_s_b]

And because of Politeness none of them would have said anything...

[nanila]

I was forced to eat a tuna sandwich in my office the other day (it was 1615, I had to leave in 10 minutes, there was nothing else in the canteen and I hadn't had anything to eat since 0730). I apologised profusely to my officemate throughout. :P

[caulkhead]

I would prefer not to eat completely raw onions, but onions soaked in lemon juice are very good indeed.

[nanila]

Huh. I don't think I've ever tried onions soaked in lemon juice. I shall conduct the experiment.

[gwendraith]

I love raw onion, red or brown (and garlic) and they are apparently very good for us as they are excellent sources of vitamin C, sulphuric compounds, flavonoids and phytochemicals!

[nanila]

I wish that list of positives were sufficient to overcome the (genetic?) intolerance I have for them...!

[redbird]

For me, it would depend on the dish. On a burger I definitely prefer my onions cooked, but might eat a bit of raw onion if that's what's included. In salads I sometimes ask for raw red onions, though I would rather have scallions (green onions).

[nanila]

Are scallions the same as spring onions? I'm okay with spring onions. Especially in udon noodle soups.

[redbird]

Yes, it's another name for the same thing.

[askygoneonfire]

As a child, i only ate raw vegetables - raw cabbage, raw carrot, raw onion, raw peas, raw beans, etc etc. As I've got older I've grown to tolerate some cooked veg but I'd take a raw onion over a cooked one any day of the week. As someone has described above, I could cheerfully eat a raw onion like an apple. I am partial to near-caramelised onions on sausages and burgers though, although cooked onion gives me indigestion whilst raw doesn't ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[nanila]

Wow. Can we swap some genetic tolerances, please? I don't cope very well with many raw vegetables (carrots being a notable exception, yay carrots). Okay with 99% of cooked ones, though!

[redsixwing]

Raw onion is a treat in small amounts. If it's in a dish, it's probably presented one of the ways I like - as a sharp counterpart to a bigger rounder flavor.

Pickled onion is the actual best and I will happily seek them out and eat them ALL.

Cooked onions are good too.

[nanila]

I don't mind pickled or cooked onions. I probably won't select a whole pickled onion as, say, a bar snack, but if it were the only thing going, I would eat it.

[miss_s_b]

"If I eat raw onion, I can taste nothing but onion for the rest of the meal, and sometimes for an hour afterward, even if I've brushed my teeth."

Yep, this.

[nanila]

Being bamboozled by hidden raw onion == ARGH. At least if I see it, I can pick it out!

[miss_s_b]

exactly

[silveradept]

It depends on the dish and the discovery. Generally, if I know it's there, it's usually a yum. If I don't, it can be anything from a "what the...?" to a "bad flavor idea!", although I will probably still eat it and enjoy it.

[nanila]

I am envious of your tolerance!

[left_turns]

My dad loves raw white onion. He takes slices of it to work in his lunch (green onions, slabs of raw white onion, I just... feel really badly for the people he works with), eats it on crackers like it was cheese... And it makes him gassy, so he's constantly going around firing off these horrid onion belches. It's so gross. Just Dad eating raw onion has completely put me off of raw onion.

[nanila]

...eats it on crackers like it was cheese...

AAAAAAAHHHH *points at icon*

[left_turns]

Right?

And at the same time, he doesn't like Greek/Indian/anything else that wasn't popular in the US in 1960 or non-chain restaurants, because he's "not an adventurous eater." But slabs of raw white onion with butter on Saltine crackers? Mmm boy!

[liseuse]

I am actually mildly allergic to raw onion, so I tend to pick it out. Some things I cope with it in because I love it - such as my mother's coleslaw recipe - but mostly I politely move it to the side of my plate with a fork. I like the taste but it isn't worth the stomachache.

[nanila]

If I spot raw onion, I always pick it out. I do not like being bamboozled by camouflaged raw onion!