The common onion, also known as the bulb onion, is a vegetable that’s been enjoyed by humanity for thousands of years all over the world. Their close relatives to scallions, leeks, garlic, and chives, and are used to add flavor to savory dishes. Although onions don’t have a lot of calories, they’re packed full of flavor and are a decent source of fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, and Potassium. It’s a vegetable that people have now begun to celebrate with its own holiday-a holiday that falls on June 27th annually and is aptly named National Onion Day.

The History Of National Onion Day

This is the section of the holiday where we dig into the history of National Onion Day, but before we do that, we’d like to first take a look at the history of the onion. The onion is a food that many food historians, botanists, and archaeologists believe originated somewhere in Central Asia. It was probably a food that was eaten by prehistoric mankind-even before the creation of civilization or the written word.

Although we’re unsure of exactly how long people have eaten onions, most researchers agree that humanity has been growing them for at least 5,000+ years. It may have been a food that was domesticated before other vegetables because it stores for a long time, is easy to store, and is easy to transport.

In ancient Egypt, onions became a symbol of eternal life, and paintings of them have been found on the walls of the pyramids. Bulb onions were also stuffed sometimes stuffy into the torso of the dead that were being prepared as mummies, or used as replacements for the mummies’ eyes.

From the 15th through the 18th centuries, onions were taken to North America by European settlers because they didn’t believe that there were onions in the New World. However, Native Americans were very familiar with onions and they were a regular part of their diet.

Now that we’ve gotten the history of the onion out of the way, it’s time to turn our attention to the history of National Onion Day. This holiday was created in 2019 by the National Onion Association. This organization represents hundreds of growers, packers, and shippers across the United States. June 27th was chosen for the date because the National Onion Association, or NOA, was incorporated on June 27, 1913.

Observing National Onion Day

Anyone wanting to honor this pungent but tasty vegetable is going to want to take the time to celebrate National Onion Day. This can be done by incorporating onions into your diet in some way on this day. Maybe you’ll add butter-sauteed onions to your burger, or you’ll serve onion rings with your dinner. It’s up to you. While you’re observing this holiday, just be sure to post pics of your dishes that feature onions and post them to the Internet using the hashtag #NationalOnionDay. Just be sure while you’re celebrating this holiday, you use some kind of breath freshener to deal with your onion breath.