by At this very moment, cooks around the world are standing in their kitchens, chopping and slicing onions and letting out a collective scream. Those tears are the price you pay for that comforting stew, heady stir-fry, savory custard pie, earthy bread or tongue-tickling sauce that will soon grace your tables.
All thanks to the humble onion.
The onion is the second most produced vegetable in the world, only surpassed by the tomato, which botanically is a fruit. Julia Child said that she found it “hard to imagine a civilization without onions.” His friend and fellow TV cooking pioneer James Beard, who often professed his enthusiasm for onion sandwiches, considered the ubiquitous vegetable “a thing of beauty in itself and certainly a gastronomic delight that should never be indulged.” for granted.”
In his new book, “The Core of an Onion,” Mark Kurlansky presents a lively collection of fun facts and lore to help us better appreciate the importance of this commoner pantry staple in our kitchens and throughout world history.
Kurlansky also offers insights into how onion cooking has evolved through the ages with recipes drawn from ancient texts, including the 18th the 19th century onion soup favored by King George II and the lemon tart made with puréed boiled onions that won first place in the 1987 Vidalia Onion Festival cooking competition.
Kurlansky is known for choosing a singular, seemingly mundane (often, but not always, edible) subject to unravel an overarching story. His 1997 book, “Cod: A Biography of a Fish That Changed the World,” became an international bestseller and has been translated into 15 languages. “Milk!” “Paper: Paging Through History” and “Salt” are among his other titles.
I called Kurlansky at his home in New York City to learn more about peeling back those layers.
This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
CNN: What prompted you to embark on this onion odyssey?
Mark Kurlansky: I thought they were underestimating the onions. They are always present and everyone uses them. You know, there’s a difference between something that’s common and ordinary. Onions are common, but they are actually something extraordinary. They are very unusual, both biologically and gastronomically. And because of these unusual qualities, they are used almost all over the world. One of their unusual qualities is that they can grow anywhere: in tropical, arid and even arctic climates.
CNN: Do people really eat whole onions?
Kurlansky: In certain parts of the world it is common to eat whole onions, and not even sweet onions. Especially in parts of central Europe. I remember traveling by train through what was then Yugoslavia and people were sitting around eating onions.
CNN: That’s pretty hard to visualize.
Kurlansky: Certain people have done it and they are always looked down upon. It is often considered something lower class. It’s even in “Don Quixote,” when (the mad knight of the 17th century novel) tells Sancho Panza (the illiterate farmhand who becomes his squire) that he seems very low class eating onions.
The English in the Middle Ages and even later talked about how backward the Scots were. I went to Scotland and you can’t believe these people; They just sit and eat onions. And when the Arabs controlled Sicily, they claimed that the people of Palermo were very stupid and backward because they ate raw onions. Onion with bread was a food of poor people in London and, indeed, in many places. Portugal too.
CNN: Did you also develop a taste for this combination at an early age?
Kurlansky: Rye with onion, yes! I supposedly took a loaf of rye with onions, hid it under the bed and ate it. I remember loving rye with onions. I don’t remember the “under the bed” part. It may be true.
CNN: I don’t think onions are something kids like.
Kurlansky: I did! He may have been a strange child. When I was a kid, one of my favorite things was vichyssoise soup. I love vichyssoise! This cold and creamy soup (potato and leek) with little green touches of chives on top.
CNN: Did you come from a family of cooks?
Kurlansky: My mother was always in the kitchen cooking something. We were a family of six and she cooked every night. She baked a lot. We had cakes and pastries at home all the time. And her mother also cooked a lot. They were from Lithuania and my grandmother moved to the Lower East Side of New York when she was a child, so she basically grew up in the Lower East Side. She always cooked Jewish food. And she made a lot of strudel.
CNN: How and when did you come to Basque culture?
Kurlansky: In the 1970s, when Franco was still in power in Spain, and Spain was like a 1930s fascist state giving fascist salutes, the whole thing. And no one wrote about it anymore. So, I went to all these American newspapers and…. I said I want to go to Spain and write about the resistance to the last fascist government. And everyone said great! Nobody did anything to resist except the Basques. I went there and it is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is a fascinating culture and that is why I was completely captivated by it. Really excellent salt cod dishes, better than anywhere else.
CNN: Onions are part of almost every kitchen. Are there differences you’ve noticed about onions in different places you’ve lived?
Kurlansky: There are differences and there are some things that are true everywhere. Everyone who makes a stew starts with onion. There is an Andalusian thing that says that making a stew without onion is “like trying to sing a song without a tambourine.” And there are curious local things everywhere. The elaborate stuffed onions of Hungary. And the Basques use onions instead of rice as a filling to make blood sausage. Blood and onions is a Basque thing, but it is also a Catalan thing. And it’s a Hungarian thing, and it’s also found in certain French cuisine. It’s something that keeps coming up.
CNN: Your recipes are fascinating to read, but they’re not exactly designed for the modern kitchen. Did you do any of them?
Kurlansky: All I’m saying is that this is an interesting recipe. I don’t guarantee that this will be a great dish. There’s a Peruvian one called encebollada, which is one of my favorite onion dishes (and literally means “onion).” And if you look at the recipe, you’ll notice that it’s almost the exact recipe for ceviche, but with onion instead of fish. It was like the poor man’s ceviche.
CNN: I could see how the texture of the marinated onions could resemble that of fish.
Kurlansky: I like to make a bunch and keep it in the refrigerator and just put a spoonful on different plates. It brightens the dish and is a great condiment. Onion and lime are two of the strongest flavors, so you put them together and ask them to play against each other. But it’s nice the way the acid in the limes releases the red pigment from the red onions and gives everything this bright fuchsia color. It illuminates anything, both visually and tastefully.
With onion, there’s this whole controversy about whether to sprinkle cilantro on top or not. And of course, the cilantro just seals it as ceviche, right? But a little bit of bright green on top of the bright fuchsia is really perfect.
CNN: Do you have a favorite onion?
Kurlansky: For raw onions I like red ones. For cooking… I buy whatever type of sweet onion is available. For certain types of things, you want stronger onions. And for certain kitchens. Onions in India are quite strong because the climate is hot. So if you want to make Indian food that tastes anything like what it tastes like in India, you need to create strong onions.
CNN: Let’s talk about crying while cutting onions. There are several methods to prevent it that are quite creative, such as lighting a match or biting the handle of a wooden spoon.
Kurlansky: Most of them don’t work. The simplest solution, which is almost never suggested, is to simply wear glasses. It’s not 100%, but it helps. And you can get onion glasses.
CNN: You should also cover your nose.
Kurlansky: You do! Her nose leads to her eyes. That’s why wearing glasses doesn’t work at all. Another thing that has some science to it is chopping onions under running water. It doesn’t quite work, but the reason it helps in some way is because what happens when you cut an onion is that the onion fights back by releasing this sulfuric gas, which is attracted to the water. When it comes into contact with water in the eyes, it turns into sulfuric acid and that is why it stings. But if you have another water source, it will divert some of that gas.
Susan Puckett is the former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and author of “Eat Drink Delta: A Hungry Traveler’s Journey Through the Soul of the South.”
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