Look: Why Filipina bride used onions instead of flowers

Onions have become symbol of wealth, and consumer frustration, in the Philippines. In recent months, the vegetable has shot up in price, starting around September, and peaked in December-January. The pricey veg had been briefly used as a currency for purchases, too. https://gulfnews.com/1.1675513009687

While the high prices of onions have become a source of frustration for consumers, Filipina bride April Lyka Biorrey-Nobis recently used onions as a special accent for her wedding. On January 21, 2023, she decided to use onions instead of wedding flowers — as a source of novelty, giving the event a special flavour.

Instead of the customary bouquet of delicate white or vibrantly coloured flowers, the 28-year-old bride carried a bouquet of onions. So did her maids of honour. According to Biorrey-Nobis, she opted for functionality over beauty. After the wedding, the onions were given to the godparents and bridesmaid so they have with them onions for souvenirs.

April Lyka carried a 4-kg onion bouquet when she tied the knot with Erwin Nobis. At about Php600 to Php700/kg, onions are more than twice the price of chicken, and certainly higher than the price of local beef, the bride said it will a practical — and unique — choice. She also gave her bouquet to relatives for their everyday use. She skipped the traditional throwing of wedding bouquet to prevent injury, she added. 

The bride, from Bingawan in the central Philippine province of Iloilo, claimed that initially they had intended to use flowers — but while perusing social media, she came up with the idea of using onions with a hint of flowers for her bouquet.

Biorrey-Nobis said when she asked permission from her groom, 35-year-old Erwin Nobis, a native of Estancia, Iloilo, to use the concept — he readily agreed. The bride said flowers would only be for display after the wedding and once withered would just be thrown away. She argued that onions are practical since they can still be used after the wedding.

The wedding coordinator placed an online order from a vendor in La Union province right away. A sack of onions showed up four days before their wedding. The bride claimed that at Php8,000, the cost of a single sack of onions is still less expensive than the cost of the customary flowers, for which they had earmarked Php15,000. RR Production Antique

The bride said the wedding entourage and the guests appreciated their gesture: their decision to use of onions instead of flowers, and then giving them away is a practical albeit unique step, since the pricey vegetables can still be used after the wedding.

Another Filipino couple handed out onions as giveaway to guests during their wedding. The price of onions hit up to Php750 per kg in January in the south-east Asian nation, where the humble vegetable has been dubbed the “new gold”. That’s almost $13.69 versus the global average of around $1.50/kg, or a little over 2 pounds.

Onions sold in the Philippine markets are grown mostly by farmers in the provinces of Nueva Ecija, La Union, Pangasinan, and on the island of Mindoro. Imports are allowed, but only on a limited scale, and is regulated by the DA. On February 13, the government has set the suggested retail price of imported red onions at ₱125 per kilogram in Metro Manila. A local hypermarket was selling small red onions Sunday (February 12, 2023) at Php240 for 500 grams, or Php480 ($8.76) per kg. Gulf News

Filipino politicians who launched a legislative investigation over the pricey onions have berated the Department of Agriculture, which is tasked to track local production and imports. Prices have softened a little bit to Php350kg for white onions and Php300 for red onions at a supermarket checked by Gulf News.

In August, before the prices started shooting up and peaked during the Christmas holidays, local media quoted local farmers as saying that growing onions is not the problem; rather, it’s the storage. Several factors influence the price of food — including supply and demand, climate conditions, transportation costs and import costs. Agricultural practices — as well as the cost of growing onions, the cost of seeds, fertilizers, and labour, can also influence retail price.

Online stores Lazada and Shopee have advertised red onions for Php133/kg and Php150/kg on Monday. Clicking the Lazada ad, however, led to a checkout page that's actually more than double, at Php270/kg, on the same day. With Shopee, the listing is gone. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture has been excoriated for lacking real-time data on supply and market conditions.

Local farmers say that during the cooler months, and depending on the onion variety, onions sprout easily and get infected by fungi or spoil quickly. The result: a shortage in local supplies, and a continuing price spike. One cause of high spoilage is lack of good storage facilities, which the government is only now addressing. When a shortage occasionally emerges, the usual solution is to import.