The Omnipresent Onion Trivia Quiz

Answer: Garlic

Members of this family of plants include onions, shallots, leeks, scallions, garlic and chives. Some other plants belonging to this family are used for ornamental purposes as well, coming in a wide variety of shapes and colours, and producing pretty little flowers. Amazingly so, there are about 750 plants belonging under the Allium classification.

These either grow from bulbs or from seeds.

Answer: The Holy Trinity

Cajun cuisine is a style of cooking produced by French speaking settlers from Canada who were deported from there by the British, and taken to the Louisiana area of the United States instead. The name "Holy Trinity" was probably not intended to be disrespectful as they were very staunch Catholics.

A typical Cajun meal consists of three pots. One contains the main meal, the second contains some sort of cereal dish, and the third is usually reserved for whatever seasonal vegetables are available. Their food is spicy, full of flavour and very tasty, and, if you're like me, it is highly recommended that it should be followed by an indigestion tablet.

Answer: Yellow onion

Yellow onions have a very full flavour. Therefore, when other coloured onions aren't available for specific dishes, yellow can always be used instead. Red onions are the preferred choice when grilling meats, and white onions, which have a slightly sweeter taste, are the preferred choice in Mexican cuisine. Any coloured onions can also be pickled and eaten as a snack if you have a cast iron stomach. Small pickled onions, accompanied by dainty squares of cheese are frequently seen served up as appertisers before meals, and apparently, though this is news to me, sold as side dishes for fish and chips in Australia and the UK.

There is also a type of onion known as a pickler onion, but just to be confusing, these usually aren't pickled at all.

Answer: Egyptian

How odd. Worshipping an onion. Nevertheless, this was the case. Though traces of onions have been found dating back to 5,000 BC in Bronze Age settlements, it is thought that this little plant, which originally grew wild, was first cultivated by the ancient Egyptians.

They believed its shape symbolised continuing life after death, and, just as a form of insurance, were known to put an onion in each eye of a deceased relative ready for burial. Traces of onions have even been found in the eyeballs of the pharaoh Ramesses IV. Let's hope he was dead first.

It is also believed that workers engaged in the construction of the pyramids were fed on radishes and onions. Dear me, no wonder they took so long to build them. Too many pit stops.

Answer: The balance of their blood

The ancient Greeks believed that the internal optimum working of the body centred round the four humours of phlegm, black bile, yellow bile and blood. Games in ancient Greece were held between representatives from the various city states to honour the god Zeus. Though it is uncertain when these combined games actually began, written records at least date from 776 BC. Games helped spread the Greek culture throughout the area of the Mediterranean at this time, along with religious festival and artistic competitions.

In ancient Rome on the other hand, onions weren't taken internally by their sportsmen, or more specifically, their gladiators. Instead, they rubbed their bodies down with raw onions because they believed it helped firm their muscles. Hungry lions so would have appreciated that extra flavour.

Answer: Baldness

The onion was also recommended by doctors from this era to help the gentlemen with problems of impotence. In fact, the humble onion during this period of history was considered such an important food, that it was used in some cases instead of money - to pay rent, for example, or to give as gifts to people. Even today, the onion is still considered to be quite an effective palliative for constipation and colds. So who knows, perhaps it really does work in all the other areas for which it was being used way back then.

Therefore, if at any time in the future, you encounter a bald man walking along rubbing an onion on his head, bear this in mind. He isn't insane after all.

Answer: Christopher Columbus

Columbus brought the cultivated onion along to America on his 1492 voyage. This was a case of taking coals to Newcastle though, because the onion already grew wild in that part of the world, and was being utilised by Native American Indians in various ways.

These included for consumption, flavouring, poultices, dye-making purposes and in the creation of various shaped toys. There's however absolutely no truth though to the rumour that Hiawatha's name was really Hiya-onion. Such was the value of the little onion by the early pilgrims, it is believed that as soon as land was cleared, bulb onions were the first crops to be planted.

Answer: Infertility

How that was supposed to help is anybody's guess, but the medical profession, such as it was, had to be credited for at least attempting to deal with this heart-breaking problem. Unfortunately though, they also recommended feeding onions to cats, dogs, horses and cattle to cure a smilar problem, sometimes with disastrous results.

Modern medical advances have shown that onions are actually toxic to many animals.

Answer: Yes

The sale of onions has shot up accordingly in other parts of the world. Some other claims made about the curative properties of this food include its cure for, or prevention of, heart diseases, osteoporosis, cholesterol problems, arthritis, diabetes and cancer.

In some parts of the world, onions are also used to heal boils and blisters and insect stings by placing one that is half baked, with a small amount of sugar, onto the afflicted area and leaving it there overnight.

Answer: Wearing goggles

Well, one supposes the goggles would at least help if you were peeling the onions under water. I've yet to hear of anyone having success with any of the above methods of preventing onions' deadly effects on the eyes, but hope springs eternal.