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Article: Vidalia folks know their onions - and sniff out fakers
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- March 30, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright (null) Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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GLENNVILLE, Ga. This is the closest town of any note to Delbert
Bland's farm, but you won't hear its name cross his lips.
It's as though it doesn't exist, as though Bland has magically
transported his 1,200 acres to a town 35 miles northwest, a town that
has given its name to the famed sweet onion that is the heart of his
$7 million business: Vidalia.
The homefolks call it Vye-dey-ya, chomping down hard on the
first syllable. To them it's just a rural crossroads in southeast
Georgia. But for Bland and the area's 285 other onion farmers,
Vidalia is part talisman, part battle cry and part state of mind.
Vidalia also means money - a $30 million crop in 1988 - putting
onions on par with ...