And to lessen the taste of onions ... either cut them very thinly ... or take the cut slices and soak them in a bit of vinegar for ten minutes.

Best way to enjoy raw onions I find is to eat them with cheese ... nothing like a plain old cheese and onion sandwich .. we discovered this in southern Spain where mountain villages serve it like that - really strong manchego hard cheese with strong Spanish onions served on hard crust baguette style bread, it's amazing