The vegetable garden

■ 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.”