Edit: Swim goggles should work too if you don’t have to worry about glasses.
I know this will be obvious to some, but I’ve never seen anyone in my family wear them. It’s so obvious once you think about it, and yet I’d wager most people (especially ones who don’t cook as a hobby) have never tried this.
The reason you cry is because slicing onions produces an organosulfur called syn-Propanethial-S-oxide. Lab goggles – as designed – keep the chemical irritant from reaching your eyes. I’ve used them hundreds of times now, and I think there was one time it got into my eyes when I didn’t have the goggles situated right (not difficult; I was just being a moron).
My 3M anti-fog pair were about $5 USD when I got them, and it looks like they’re about $7.50 USD now. For that price, I never have to dread cutting up onions again. It’s not magic; it’s just basic PPE, and it works. You can even wear them over eyeglasses (I’m sure some huge, circular frames won’t fit, but most should).
Even if you forget them and remember them midway through slicing, it can still help somewhat. So even if you’re as absent-minded as I am, you can benefit from trying this.
These (below) were the ones I got personally, but feel free to try what you already have if you already have a pair on-hand for e.g. cleaning. I’d assume the important thing is just that they’re goggles, not glasses.
Why YSK: owie, oof, ouchie, my eyes. Cooking is just DIY organic chemistry.
How soft do you have to be to cry over cutting an onion? Like, they can’t even feel it so just chill.
We vegans kind of slide everything over, so slaughtering animals becomes unthinkable, and butchering vegetables becomes sad.
Tried this with a pair of swim goggles once. Worked with the onions, but got clowned so hard by my roommates I cried anyway 😭
Then all of a sudden your goggles are filled with tears.
Cut an onion everyday to keep the onion tears at bay
The difference when I’m wearing my contact lenses to when I’m wearing glasses is crazy. With my contacts in, onions barely bother me at all. Glasses on the other hand and I have to step back and take a breather.
I don’t consider onion tears a problem. It’s an experience I would not want removed from my life, as it is one of those things letting me feel the nuance of being alive.
Red onions bring the most tears here, and yellow the least. I never notice yellow being an issuez but reds will make me take a step back sometimes to blot my eyes with something lol
I can’t relate to that dread part at all. If I knew it was harmful to my eyes I would reconsider this stance, but otherwise, yeah, I’m glad for the pain it causes.
I feel plenty alive wearing swimming goggles in my kitchen.
A Metal Gear villain in the making.
Use a sharp knife because a duller knife is less safe, and it does more smashing than cutting which casues more fumes.
Don’t put your head over the onions as you work. Take a half step back and extend your arms more so you’re further away from the fumes.
If your kitchen is not well ventilated, put your cutting board on the stove and turn on the hood.
Don’t cut the root off either. Use it to hold the onion together and in my experience also seems to lessen the effect on my eyes.
Sharpening your knife will help, too. Crushing the onion with your chef’s spoon releases way more of the cry gas.
is it weird that I don’t really have this problem?
I think so?? Some of it depends, I think, on the variety of onion (e.g. I’ve always found sweet onions to be gentler compared to white onions). I don’t always cry without them per se, but it still feels noxious.
Tried it before. It still didn’t stop me from crying like watching the end of Gattaca. Must’ve been a bad seal somewhere.
My dad always sliced onions wearing diving goggles. Always said he might look stupid but it works.
Oh, with a denim apron and lab goggles, I look like a bootleg Jesse Pinkman. But that kind of makes things a bit more fun in its own way.
You can also chew strong minty gum, which will also stop you from crying :3
