"onions and garlic"

[William Salmon]

> 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?

A few centuries prior to colonial Massachusetts, a fondness for onions
and garlic was symbolic of one's being depraved and corrupt. In the
general prologue to the Canterbury Tales, the summoner is described as
having a fondness for garlic, onions, and leeks, and this has often
been interpreted as further indication of his lecherous or corrupt
character.

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