Do You Know Your Onions?

Take time to smell the . . . onions?
Sheila Brown CCO Public Domain

Crossing Cultures: Peeling the Layers of a Truly Global Food

Quick—what food is a staple of every global cuisine?

Wheat? Nope.  Rice? Guess again. Uh, potatoes? B-z-z-z! Game over!

It’s the onion.

Americans eat 22 lbs. of onions per person per year, placing 5th after Libya (66 lbs).
© Joyce McGreevy

It’s grown in over 175 countries—twice as many as wheat, according to United Nations estimates. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization lists China as the world’s largest producer of onions, followed by India, the United States, Turkey, and Pakistan.

Oh, I see: The vegetable that makes eyes water also makes mouths water across cultures.

Put on your goggles as we peel away the layers to see why onions are the apple of every culture’s eye.

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