And the Golden Onion Goes To...

A dozen Georgia chefs will compete in the inaugural Golden Onion professional cooking competition preceding the 35th Annual Vidalia Onion Festival April 26-29 in Vidalia, Ga. Our personal favorites in the April 22 recipe creation competition are Marc Taft, owner and executive chef of Chicken and the Egg in Marietta, and Chef Richard Wiggins, executive chef at Spice Market in the W Atlanta - Midtown. All eyes and cleavers will be on the star of the cutting board - the Vidalia onion, the prominent ingredient in every recipe. Chefs Taft and Wiggins both sing praises about Georgia's mild and gentle state vegetable. Taft appreciates that their "flavor profile makes them easy to blend into dishes because they complement other ingredients so well; they're also fantastic alone." Wiggins enjoys "the sweetness and ability to manipulate the flavor" of Vidalia onions. First-place winner takes home the Golden Onion trophy for one year plus $500. Second-place winner receives $250, and third place receives $100. Competition takes place in the Vidalia Community Center and opens to the public at 12:30 p.m. Purchase $5 tickets in advance at the Vidalia Onion Museum; $10 at the door. 

A Sweet Dream Comes True

The museum consultant countered, "Really, an onion museum?"  That was five years ago, before learning the "sweet" history behind the humble, mild-mannered Vidalia onion.  The Vidalia's intoxicating layers have been peeled back to uncover its growth from modest cash crop to inspiring a multitude of food products marketed worldwide -- and to being named Georgia's state veggie.  See it all when the Vidalia Onion Museum opens to the public at 3 p.m. today! 

The 1,300-square-foot space is stuffed with an interactive array of educational exhibits highlighting the sweet onion's economic, cultural and culinary significance.  Exhibits trace the vegetable's history, why it's so sweet, the fight to protect name and fame, the year-round job of producing the prized onions, "Onion Town" and the economic impact of the Vidalia onion on the state, pop culture, marketing, menus, a "Sweet World for Kids," and the living exhibit of the smallest registered Vidalia onion field right there on the premises.

Adding more spunk to the mix, the Vidalia Onion Festival also takes place this weekend with festivities, pageants, parades, concerts, car shows, onion-eating contests and arts and crafts.  Since these are Vidalia onions we're talking about, it's a given that you can play all day without shedding a tear -- unless they are tears of Vidalia joy and appreciation!  After its 3 p.m. opening today, the museum's regular operating hours will be Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with Saturday hours available for tours.  For more information, visit www.vidaliaonion.org or the museum's Facebook page.