As a kid, I was an extremely picky eater. I only liked three vegetables and they were broccoli, spinach, and corn. There were some foods that I had never even tried before and convinced myself that I didn’t like. To this day, I still haven’t tried some foods, such as cherries, because of that reason. Luckily, as I’ve grown older, my taste buds have grown as well.

I wasn’t a picky kid for no good reason. I didn’t like nuts because of the way the aroma made my mouth feel. I didn’t like artichokes because they weren’t visually appealing. I didn’t like garlic and onions because when not cooked thoroughly, they had a pungent smell that made my mouth feel dry when eating them. Because of this reason, I refused to eat anything that visibly had garlic or onions in them. What I didn’t know was that almost every Pilipinx meal used garlic and onions for their base, so my mom would still put the two vegetables for every meal and I would unknowingly eat it. Sometimes I would see grilled onions in my adobo and pick it out or refuse to eat it. To this, my mom would respond with “You’ve been eating them your whole life without realizing, so why is it an issue now?” Being a child with a lot of pride who couldn’t handle admitting they were eating things they’d vowed they never would, I simply believed she was lying to me.

Since living on my own, I’ve come to realize that she was right. When I first started cooking on my own, I wouldn’t add garlic or onions. At first, it was okay; my food would have enough flavor that I thought, “I don’t need either in my meals, this is good!” I would add your basic seasonings, such as salt and pepper and whatever else I thought was necessary, but my food would be missing something. It wasn’t until I started cooking for my boyfriend that he would tell me that the food is bland. As embarrassed as I was, he was right. From that point on, he started teaching me how to cook properly, starting with how to cut the two vegetables. I’ve come to appreciate what garlic and onions can do for a meal. Now, we add garlic and onion in almost everything we cook.

For garlic and onion recipes, click here.