Re: Onions and Garlic - Good or Bad?

Some people are very allergic to the whole onion/garlic/leek/green onion/chive family.

Others simply dislike them.


I was close to my girlfriend's family, and her mom and dad often came to my married home for dinner.

I always made a salad, with green onions.

Years later I learned that her mom was always sick, at home, after eating those salads, but had not told me, out of kindness.


Today, I realize that she should have told me, of course...because I had never heard of this allergy.


When entertaining I now keep these veggies to where they are obvious, and tell anyone who asks.


I was once to a party also attended by a man who could not tolerate eggs. Apparently he had been told by medical doctors that the smallest amount of egg in any dish could easily kill him.

The hostess at that party had sent me to tell him that the only eggs were in the potato salad. In the laughter and dancing I hope I delivered the message properly...for that was the first time I had heard of such an allergy, and I had never met the man before.


In another case I read of a young person dying because they had re-used a knife that had spread peanut butter. ...So severe was the youngster's allergy to peanuts.


I guess one thing we need to learn, as we become adults and parents, is the seriousness of some conditions.

...Even if we have never heard of them before...ESPECIALLY if we haven't heard of them.


Probably the only right way is to make no fuss over refusals of foods, and to watch the well-being of the person, adult or child.


Children, once they get used to a new taste (because their tastes are very sensitive), usually prefer the same foods as their families. If a child doesn't, and you haven't made a big deal of their dislike, there may be a good reason to keep it separate...just in case.


In the decades before I was born, there was an attitude of intolerance to childrens' preferences, I think because all food was more difficult to come by...and because all children were viewed as simply small adults...they should comply with adult preferences...they should be 'disciplined' if they don't. Hah!

Fledgling