What do you always try to avoid? 

What, if anything, you always try to avoid? And are you successful in this?

I have a long list when it come to things I try to avoid. One of those that immediately came to mind is the allium family – leeks, onions, chives, etc. I don’t mind looking at it. In fact, I have chives scattered all over the garden. The blooms are absolutely beautiful and the plant benefits the garden tremendously. They chase aphids away and bring in the pollinators.

It’s just I can’t stomach it. The smell and taste makes me gag. My paternal grandparents used to make me eat spring onion by purposefully sprinkle a bunch on top of every dish after already mixing a bunch in the bunch. I hated them for it.

I don’t know what it is I don’t like about it. It is another vegetable, after all, but I just can’t stand it. So I avoid it like a plague. If I order food, I will tell the server to leave out the onions. When I was studying Japanese prior to my first trip to Japan, I had to learn to say “no spring onions, please,” because every bowl of ramen I’ve seen on YouTube seemed to have a handful of spring onions on top. Also, when I’m in the grocery store, I read every label on every package of food to make sure there’s no onions before buying it. That’s how serious my avoidance is.

Sometimes, though, I would forget to say, “leave out the onions” and get a dish full of onions. If it’s just a couple of onion rings, I can just put them aside. Though, if it’s little-bitty pieces of chopped onions, that’s a little tricky, especially when I’m dining with company. In that case, I’ll just try my best to check each bite of food to make sure there’s no onions in it.

One thing I do know, my avoidance did not come from the way I was raised. I think it’s just something in my DNA that makes me hate alliums so much and I’m not the only one. My mom avoids alliums too and so does her brother. Maybe that’s why. Maybe I was born with the predisposition to avoid alliums.

Sunday Poser