Americans were told it was their patriotic duty to “Eat More Onions!” in a drive against the Spanish flu. A placard proclaimed: “An onion car arrived today // Labeled red, white, and blue // Eat onions, plenty, every day // And keep away the flu.” One mother, who took this command to extremes, fed her daughter onion syrup and wrapped her in onions head to toe. The outcome was successful, likely because no one came near the child. Read more about the deadly Spanish flu pandemic a century ago in On the Shore (1917-1925), a tale of conflict between generations in a Lower East Side immigrant family (see NOVELS).
