Onion

Years ago now, my son (who is now 25) had a very creative preschool teacher.  One evening I picked him up from preschool and he absolutely reeked.  It turned out that day had been vegetable day, and the children tried a range of vegetables, including the onion.  Apparently my son had fallen in love with the onion and begged the teacher for more.  The upshot is that he ate three whole onions, much like one would eat an apple.   Three onions in a three or four year old made for a smelly evening.  I jokingly told the teacher I would feed him an onion or two in the morning before dropping him off.  Of course I never did.   He did grow up liking a wider array of food than many children.

Consider this:

We all get stuck in ruts, often food ruts, eating the same things over and over.  While the onion is a familiar food to most of us (maybe not eaten like apples, but still familiar), I do invite you to consider expanding the menu a bit this Lent.  Maybe scan the produce aisles.  In our area, there are several stores (Valli Produce, Caputo*s, Trader Joe*s, Whole Foods, to name a few) that offer a rich variety.  Choose one vegetable or fruit, and learn how to prepare it.  This may seem an odd Lenten activity.  But there is good research which shows that moving out of our ruts helps create new ways of experiencing the world around us.