Onion sellers in Porthmadog, Wales in 1958 (Photo: Geoff Charles, CC0 1.0) Many of them headed to Wales where the Breton-speaking sellers found it easier to communicate with the similarly Celtic-tongued Welsh speakers. By the 1920s, 1,400 onion sellers from Brittany were making the annual trip to sell their wares in the UK, as far north as Scotland. So profitable was his onion-selling escapade that it inspired hundreds of others to follow suit. This adventurous chap decided, instead facing an arduous trip to Paris via the poorly maintained roads or embryonic rail system to sell his onions, that he would hop across the Channel to try his luck in Blighty instead. Our story begins in early nineteenth century Brittany with an onion farmer named Henri Ollivier. So settle down comfortably with a bowl of French onion soup because we are going IN. Weirder still is the fact that there is a historical basis for this British perception of French people. Or even partial to an easy onion snacking opportunity. Or prudent in personal defence against vampires. ![]() So where does this idea come from? Did the French ever wear onions necklaces, you know, in Ye Olde Times? Perhaps they were centuries ahead of Lady Gaga’s meat dress in making fashion statements with food. Yes, I’m so sorry to disappoint what can I say, reality is a cup of cold sick. Now I can personally confirm that, from the Claire’s Accessories in my local shopping centre to oh-so-robbable Cartier showrooms of Paris, I have never seen an onion necklace on sale. And, if you’re British, there’s a good chance that your imagination will have added a string of onions around his neck.Īn onion necklace – where with the what now? Everyone’s on board with the stripy top-beret stereotype but it seems to be a British quirk to associate the French with onion accessories. If you’re anything like me, you’ll have imagined something similar to the image that accompanies this post: a moustachioed gent in a striped jumper and beret. ![]() ![]() Picture the most outrageously caricature version of a French man you can.
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