Biblical source for "onions and garlic"

[Joel S. Berson]

I haven't looked at any Colonial cook-books, but Amy's message
prompted me to look in EAN (my only quick 18th c. primary source
accessible from home), and make a fortunate discovery.

An article from the United States Chronicle, Oct. 13, 1785, p. 2, has
an extract of a letter from Dublin on Ireland's rights independent of
British control, which includes:

"Can they [I think meaning the British Parliament] suppose that
Irishmen are so desirous of 'onions and garlic of Egypt,' as to wish
again to return to their captivity, and to forsake those happy
prospects which were almost within the grasp of enjoyment."

So I turn to the Torah, Numbers 11:4-6:  "The riffraff in their midst
felt a gluttonous craving; and the Israelites, moreover, wept and
said, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish that we used
to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the
onions, and the garlic. Now our gullets are shriveled. There is
nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to!"

This is surely the allusion, but I need someone wiser and more fluent
to explicate it for me!  A request as unrealistic in Massachusetts as
wanting the foods of fertile Egypt in the desert?

For the benefit of anyone interested, I repeat the original
quotation, circa 1690s:

"the representatives, though they send to the king for ships and men,
yet address him at the same time for their old charter. That is their
onions and garlic."

Joel

At 11/19/2007 01:24 PM, Amy West wrote:
>At the risk of being too literal, how are onions and garlic thought
>of/treated in colonial cooking? Onions as desirable because they can
>be carmelized and can add some sweetness to a dish? Garlic less so
>because it adds sharp aroma/flavor? Is it another version of "carrot
>and stick" possibly? Or are both undesirable because they're both
>stinky?
>
>---Amy West
>
>>  >>"the representatives, though they send to the king for ships and men,
>>>>yet address him at the same time for their old charter. That is their
>>>>onions and garlic."
>>>>
>>>>My only thought is that the writer is using the phrase ironically --
>>>>while onions and garlic frequently appear together harmoniously in
>>>>food dishes, here the two messages are not compatible.
>>>
>>>I don't know much about it, but of course I can make a perhaps naive
>>>speculation.
>>>
>>>Without knowing the broader context, I would speculate that "onions
>>>and garlic" form an inseparable unit here, meaning either (1) simply
>>>"seasonings" or (2) "strong-smelling/piquant/obtrusive seasonings". I
>>>would not think that "onions" is being opposed to or contrasted with
>>>"garlic". I.e., I would speculate that "request for ships and men"
>>>implicitly = "meat [and potatoes/turnips/etc.]" or so (the expected,
>>>the basics), while "request for the charter" = "[plenty of] onions
>>>and garlic", an addendum which makes the overall dish more
>>>"flavorful", perhaps more so than the king would prefer.
>>
>>The request from the Assembly (lower house) of the Massachusetts
>>legislature was for military assistance in fighting the French and
>>their Indians.  The request for the charter was for restoration of
>>the original charter (1629) of the Massachusetts Bay colony, which
>>conferred more power to the people and the Assembly, and thus greater
>>independence from the king and Parliament, than the current charter
>>(of 1691).  These two requests would not be an inseparable unit; they
>>are quite discordant.
>>
>>Joel
>
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