I eat them just about every day. I steam them in my steamer for breakfast and make baked fries at night or bake one.

They are a whole food, nothing processed bout them. Its when you add all the fat, thats when they become fattening.

ARGH!!!!

I am afraid of them. Almost as afraid of them as I am of soft, lightly browned little white rolls & aromatic white rice in Chinese food boxes.

Red lights flashing. Danger. Danger. Yellow "do not cross" tape strung all over the potato & onion bins in the produce section of my local grocers.

This is how I eat them, when I dare to. [Shiver.] I dice up the little lumpy round redjackets & add them to a vegetable soup or vegetable curry, along with at least five or six other vegetables, so they become a minority in the crowd, which I hope mitigates their evil influence upon my diet.

The poor things. I suspect they're actually good little soldiers at heart, but I'm a product of my times & my culture & can't help suppressing a shiver at the sight of them.

Can I ask what's wrong with onions???

Well, I'm not sure why the poster thought they were dangerous, but they are relatively caloric as far as veggies go and have a lot of natural sugar (which is why they brown so nicely). I do not avoid them as I do potatoes, because I feel they have a lot more nutrients and flavor for the calories.

I do not discriminate against onions, actually. In fact, I have trouble thinking of anything that I cook that doesn't begin with me sauteeing onions in a pan. If it's not onions, it's garlic. Or both.

But onions are placed beside potatoes at the grocery store, so I worry they are tainted by physical proximity. Potatoes may have a bad influence on the onions' character. You do not want your onions hanging around your potatoes. It leads to things like ... like ... well, like ... homefries.

I'm just being zany. A little. I have seen people ask in different posts whether onions are "safe." Some with other Food Beliefs call them verboten.

And after carmelizing some vidalias, I've been a little worried whether something so delicious could be okay to eat.

But we were talking about potatoes. And I have to admit being afraid of them. Except maybe the costly little fingerlings at the farmer's market & the redjackets, which I try to deal with through limiting them & integrating them with other more role-model-ish vegetables.

"Hey, Onion, how'sabout you and me get together and make some hash browns?"

"Why, you naughty Potato! I am shocked, just shocked, I tell you. Okay. My place or yours?"

Next they'll be smoking oregano!

I avoid them because I tend to like them only with a lot of fat added-butter, salt and sour cream. If they are naked they're just not as appealing.

Sort of like coffee is only the carrier for the caffeine, sugar and cream. (Which I've also given up)

sarah