A Hidden Europe piece on onions points out the story behind the famous Roscoff onions.,
I was familiar with the Roscoff onion and the traders who would come and sell them, which helped to create the image of the French onion seller with a string of onions around their neck, stripy Breton shirt and bicycle. They were brought over for a period of time only - in the days when more fruits and vegetatables were only available seasonally.
The people selling the sweet onions were known as 'Onion Johnnies'. They visited from the 1930s (and earlier) through to the early 2000s.
They are described in this piece as "not just a vegetable but a passport to a different world".
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