Substitute for onions??

[Zeldamarie]

I have a friend who eats a mostly plant-based diet, also excluding eggs and, alas, onions for allergy reasons. Most of the delicious looking recipes I find in Forks over Knives use onions, shallots or green onions. Is there an alternative other than just eliminating the onion altogether and missing the flavor it adds?

[Vanilla Orchid]

Yes! You can get an onion-like flavor using a spice called asafetida aka hing that is used in Indian cooking. If your friend doesn't care about the onion flavor, s/he can just leave out the onions, or substitute some other vegetable like celery or whatever (for example in a stir fry).