Red Onion Pride
Below is my contribution to Produce Parties’ third issue, Alliums, about onions, garlic, shallots, and everything that makes food worth loving.
Red Onions I Was Unfamiliar with Your Game
I felt prepared when I went to college. I could do laundry, cook, and clean, and I possessed time management skills. But while I used my other life skills as a freshman, my dorm building didn’t have a kitchen space, so I trekked daily to the dining halls. In the dining hall, nothing was seasoned—I’d previously thought salt and pepper was a constitutional right entitled to all foods. (By junior year, I carried adobo in my backpack.)
During lunch and dinner, I observed my fellow freshmen like an anthropologist. Some guys were devoted to gaining the freshman 15 and would eat a plate of french fries with every meal. Some gals would also get a plate of french fries, just to have something in their belly for Thirsty Thursday before they’d be scrutinized on YikYak on Friday morning. They’d also eat salad.
In my 18-year-old brain, salad was something you ate for attention. Salad was for people who liked noisy, crunchy food and were scared of carbs. But after eating turkey burgers and spending Thirsty Thursdays on my knees in front of a toilet, I knew something had to change in my eating habits. I couldn’t afford to keep spending my work-study money on Tums and ginger ale. So I went to the salad bar to observe—and learn.
There were your base options: romaine, iceberg, spinach. Spinach tastes better cooked. Iceberg is a waste of time. Romaine tastes like a humble hug. I chose romaine. Then, I added toppings I knew I liked: cucumbers, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, and carrots. The grilled chicken was always picked over, but I got a few pieces. Maybe some chickpeas? Sure, why not?
If I absorbed anything from my sister's Food Network obsession, it’s that the more color on your plate, the better. My plate was orange, red, and white—but mostly green. I looked at the remaining salad bar options and saw something purple: red onions. I’d previously always removed onions from my plate, but here I was forcing myself to try this audacious allium. I put a spoonful of onions on my plate before I could think twice.
Now, to eat my salad—and my red onions.
Their purple color reminded me of the primroses my mother always admired while driving. They had a wonderful crunch—the punch of a perfect, snarky quip; the Marc Maron of vegetables. Red onions saved my life. I suffer from a chronic sweet tooth, and the red onions’ sweetness made it so I could eat “real” food. They made bland food edible. I could be a salad bar girl. There’d be no more Thirsty Thursdays on my knees in front of a toilet. French fries weren’t my only option.
So thank you for entering my life 10 years ago, red onions. I’m sorry that I was unfamiliar with your game.
I’m very late but here are some recommendations on what to consume this pride month.
Music:
A Black, British & Carribean lesbian born in 1950, hailing from St. Kitts. Her music sounds like Tracy Chapman + Billy Joel.
Books:
Hot Girls with Balls by Benedict Nguyen
This book is about trans Asian women volleyball players and they’re a power couple. I’m still reading it but it’s already giving me a lot to mull over. Comes out on July 1
Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen
Obviously this book is about asexuality but it’s also about society vs. individuals expectations of sex. We all know the shortcomings of sexual education in America but are we ever taught what we are supposed to gain or feel from sexual encounters. Is sex owed to us? Do we have to initiate it? How does our gender performance and expectations impact our sexual desire? Is rape sex? Chen excavates a lot in these pages.
Movies:
Working Girls directed by Lizzie Borden on HBOMax
This film is about a lesbian sex worker who navigates being overworked and under appreciated at her workplace.
Saving Face directed by AliceWu on Criterion Channel
This film is a classic. It’s about Chinese lesbians navigating cultural norms in NYC.
If you don't have Criterion Channel, you can also watch Wu’s, the half of it, on Netflix. It’s about a shy, smart student that tries to woo the most popular girl in school.
I have a list of over 40 LGBTQ+ feature films here on my Letterboxd!