I know it’s a little peculiar. Some people aspire to Chanel perfume or some new celebrity scent that allows you to think for a moment that you are not who you really are. But the beauty of onions is the little whiff of real humanity they bring to life.
The scent that I have always loved is the smell of onions.
The smell of wild onions is the smell of new grass and the aroma of good times to come in the spring. Like some great inviting salad mixed with wild strawberries and a new energy to explore and inhale.
The smell of grilled onions is the smell of summer, mingled with the smell of charcoal, steak and peppers. The smell of long days and good friends, lingering for just a moment to breathe in a memory of being together.
The smell of green onions is the smell of home cooking, mixed with sliced tomatoes, purple hull peas and skillet cornbread. It’s a smell that brings on feelings of love for the regularity of life and a grounded sense of who I am and where I came from.
And the smell of the holy trinity – onions, garlic and celery – are the hallmarks of the holidays where our lives and relationships get stirred up into that dressing that everyone requests and forms the recipe of our life.
So while the onion may seem mundane to some, it is the stuff of life for me.
