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I've made spaghetti sauce from scratch without onions before (I had run out and didn't know it!). Instead, I substituted finely diced carrots and celery. It turned out really well. It was sweeter than usual, but I tweaked it with some good Balsamic vinegar and it had that twang.

Another idea for pasta is to use spicy peppers in the sauce. Try cubanells (sp?). they might add a nice spicy flavour that wouldn't make you think "Hmmm..where's the onion?"

Also, can your date have garlic powder? I always find myself adding it even when I have fresh garlic in a recipe.

Try researching traditional Buddhist recipes - traditional Buddhists avoid garlic, onions, etc. My parents love Asian restaurants because the Buddhist-run ones will leave out garlic and onions (which they strongly dislike) on request.

I just made a sweet potato gnocchi with brown butter and sage (no onions or garlic)! Taaaaasty.

Whoops, forgot the link: http://www.aliciakachmar.com/blog/food/sweet-potato-gnocchi-with-brown-butter-and-sage/

how abt pesto(basil, olive oil, pinenuts, lime/lemon juice) with pasta, and chicken stuffed with goat cheese,coated in almonds?

I do not like onions in any form-green, red, white, chives, shallots, leeks, anything!
I merely omit them from recipes. Can't say I've had any complaints by doing this (though I do use garlic so maybe thats why).
Pastas, soups, stews, meat & potato dinners, mexican food, indian food...I make it all without onions.

leeks might be a good substitue for onions.
nothing can replace garlic...but for a date...maybe thats a good thing. :)
I Love Basil...have your sauce...which I'm guessing is red...be robust with basil and maybe different bell peppers.

You could go another route, try a vodka sauce (lots of flavor) the onions and garlic won't be missed.

If all else fails, you could stop dating him. LOL ok mean joke...sorry

If you (and he) have adventurous palates otherwise, try recipes from Yamuna Devi's Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking. It has thousands of Indian recipes without a single allium! Her other cookbook, Yamuna's Table, was also low on onions and garlic, if memory serves (I used to cook from both of them frequently, before children!).

there's a hindu sect that does not eat garlic or any variety of onion,they substitute an herb called acefadieta sometimes called hing.

my mom has an allium sensitivity as well--with things like spaghetti sauce, chilis, soups, and stews, she'll put a quartered onion in cheesecloth and just soak it in the food while it cooks to infuse the flavor. then she takes it out.

i'm sure this is not foolproof, but it might be something worth trying once you get to know each other better.

in the meantime, although i love onions, i find that you can do without pretty easily--fajitas with just peppers, for example, or replacing them with celery and carrots.

also, the above advice to use sweet vinegars in place of onion is good. my mom does that. she keeps balsamic and sherry around. cooking with wine helps, too.

That's my husband! I have to really cook all of those things before he'll eat it. For flavor we add things he does like... black pepper, mustard, and hot spices like cayenne pepper, chili powder, and hot pepper flakes. And tons of cheese on top.

I often cook for a friend who's stomach is sensitive to biggish chunks of allium, but she said it's fine if the chunks are so big that she can remove them or so small (finely minced) that she can't see them. Using things like Penzy's dried onion or even onion powder has worked okay, and most of the time, just omitting the allium from standard recipes has worked out fine, too--just taste as you cook and adjust the other seasonings as necessary. Staples like worcestershire sauce and other fermented condiments might add a nice depth of flavor (something like umami) when you have to omit your onions.

My hubby's the same way. You need to really consider whether this person is worth dating before preceding. If you both are looking for a long term relationship you may find yourself unable to cook or even EAT onions and garlic for the rest of your life.

My husband has slowly increased his tolerance. He can now tolerate very, very finely chopped garlic and onions in small amounts, or very large chopped onions that he can pick out. He even lets me eat onions and small amounts of garlic if I brush, floss, brush and use Listerine. This was not the case when we first dated, so ask first! He hates caramelized onions and leeks and whatever other milder onion type thing, so ask before substituting those. Basically I cook all my normal recipes, but just skip the garlic and onions. Before our relationship I used to start every savory recipe with sauteing garlic and onions first. If that's how he's used to eating he won't notice the difference and eventually neither will you. I've lost my taste for garlic bread! We've been together 6 years now, so run away if this isn't the fate you want ;-)

I have noticed the amount of colds I've had going way up too. I think the massive amounts of garlic and onions were protecting me. Luckily I love him and I'm willing to tolerate some colds for him :-)

thanks for all the suggestions everyone! unfortunately, the relationship didn't last and the issue isn't one anymore. hopefully the suggestions here can help others with sensitive palates.

for a little more background, his body couldn't process alliums in any state-- caramelized, cooked, raw, powdered. he was also lactose intolerant. we ended up eating a lot of asian and sauceless foods (anything he saw, he would pick out but there were some he missed as we would find out later in the evening).

this relationship truly tested my culinary expertise. my condolences to those with celiac disease and any other food allergies!
-ginger