Sensitive to onions

One of our family has this problem and I recently made a version of ratatouille without onion or garlic - aubergine, courgette, yellow peppers, tomatoes, olive oil, plenty of herbs (basil, oregano), VH vegetable juice, salt, pepper, dash of tabasco. He said he enjoyed it and had second helping. We all ate it, even DH who eats onions in almost every meal, and it tasted fine.

Thank you so much for your helpful messages, and I will certainly follow them up. Just knowing I am not alone makes me feel better, and of course if one can relax more, this has a direct influence on your stomach, though at times easier said than done!
Thanks again.

We have a family member who is unable to eat onions, apples (which are easier to avoid) and cannot have milk also has to be careful with several other things too. Fortunately can tolerate leeks in small quantities so I substitute those if I really need to otherwise I have generally just avoided using them. You do have to check so many things for onions, I read the packet on everything before buying.

Thank you teabagwoman - I have just sent this link to my daughter. It looks very useful.

Elainel, people vary in their reaction to onions etc., some suffer from acute constipation and flatulence, others have diarrhoea. I would strongly advise you to keep pushing for tests and a proper diagnosis but in the meantime your daughter could try an exclusion diet. Look at www.monashfodmap.com for reliable information about how to do this. Monash University, in Australia, are the acknowledged experts in managing IBS by diet. It looks complicated but I found it very manageable and she won’t have to exclude all the foods permanently. That said please push for a proper diagnosis. Hope she finds an answer soon.

Like teabagwoman, I'm absolutely fine with the leaves of spring onions (and ramsons too) so I grow them and just harvest the tops as 'cut and come again' crops - as I believe is usual in other countries, like Turkey.

When you say you have intolerance to onions etc what are the symptoms? Be as graphic as necessary please. DD2 has severe bowel problems - prolific diarrhoea - put down to IBS. Lots of weird issues - high platelets, vomiting, period problems. Due to covid was seen eventually by a doctor from Medinet (brought in to reduce NHS waiting lists from anywhere . He was from Lebanon! and ordered wrong test which she waited a year for - it was a sigmoidoscopy and should have been a colonoscopy - doctor doing it told her all this. Was in November and now still due to covid she is waiting for correct test. Anyway we have wondered if it was a food allergy or sensitivity. She has cut out a lot, been taking Yakut, kefir and actimel, some kind of seeds etc but now wondering if it could be this as we eat lots of things with onions, garlic and leeks? Sounds a horrible thing to have sensitivity to.

My mum couldn't cope with onions but found a small amount of the dried packet onions ok.

I just leave onions out of quiches, I use celery in those.

I too have an intolerance to onions, garlic and leeks. I use an eighth of a teaspoon of asafoetida to replaces onions in soups, stews etc.
Asafoetida is a gum from a type of large fennel and is widely used by those who cannot eat onions for religious or dietary reasons.
You can find it among the spices in large supermarkets.

Many of us older bods find as we get older that we haven't got the same tolerance to certain foods that we used to have. The best thing is to avoid them altogether unless you want to be unwell. They won't be missed in/ with your other foods.
Our tastes change in lots of ways.

I could eat an onion like an apple once upon a time but I'd be on the lav. all day if I did that now Spider bowels.

Try fennel,thats supposed to have a storngish flavour and it`s really good for you.

It seems as if the majority of veggie recipes starts with fry an onion!

As teabagwoman has said above, Asafoetida (just a pinch) gives a mild savoury touch of onion. I often use it when cooking for my DGC as they won't eat onions because they don't like the strong flavour.

I’m very intolerant of onions and garlic but can cope with chives, the green tops of spring onions and green leek leaves in smallish quantities. Asafoetida, used in small quantities, is a useful flavouring. No help to vegetarians but bacon adds flavour to many dishes. I add chives or chopped spring onion tops at the end of cooking for a bit of onion flavour and a drop of garlic infused oil. I’m intolerant of the fructans in onions etc., which don’t dissolve in fats, so I can also make onion flavoured oil by frying onions and then carefully sieving the onion bits out. Worth looking at the Monash University Low FODMAP diet site for other ideas.

I have the same problem as your DH Sar53. And almost every bloomin thing has it in now. Why? Most of the time there's so little of it that it makes no difference to the taste.

My husband has an intolerance to garlic which has got a lot worse in the last few years. Eating out is often a problem and I have to read the ingredients on any packet or tin I buy. Not all restaurants are helpful when asked about the things he can eat on the menu.
Even the slightest bit of garlic makes him very ill although he can eat onion. My sympathy to those of you with the same problem.

I mean grated apples. I hate the idea of grated onions!

I like the idea of grated onions Lillie

At least most restaurants don't show disbelief now when you ask what's on the menu with no garlic. Impossible still in a vegetarian restaurant though.

There is a Facebook page - The Allium Allergy and Intolerance (UK only). They have some ideas and also what brands to avoid.

I use grated apple instaed of onions. Especially in Autumn dishes.

I have never eaten onions, don't like leeks either. We buy onion salt or pure onion powder which I am ok with, otherwise its different herbs /spices, it doesn't have to be bland.

I often use celery for interest.

Watching with interest. Similar problem.