A True Friend sticks with you through thick and thin no matter what =)
www.flickr.com/photos/alqurashi/3860906974/ -
if you stay with or support someone through thick and thin, you always stay with or support them, even in difficult situations That's what relationships are ...
idioms.thefreedictionary.com/through+thick+and+thin - Cached -
I'll be with you through thick and thin. You and me baby will always win ... I got your heart and you got mine. Send "Through Thick And Thin" Ringtones to ...
www.sing365.com/.../Through-Thick-And-Thin.../6526D5DDF204F... -
pan,dulce, cebolla amarga, o sea estaremos juntos en las buenas y en las malas ... contigo pan y cebolla significa q quien te lo dice es una ...
ar.answers.yahoo.com › ... › Encuestas y sondeos - Cached - Si
a) “contigo pan y cebolla significa q quien te lo dice es una persona con poco dinero y q van a pasar hambre estando juntos, por mas amor q tengan el uno ...
definicienciapopular.blogspot.com/.../contigo-pan-y-cebolla.html - Cached

a suggestion

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Note added at 20 mins (2011-04-09 20:45:13 GMT)
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It's all about your personal preference, Eileen. :-)

The phrases suggested so far, "thick and thin", "better or worse", "ups and down", are all good ways of capturing the sense of the expression. I just thought you might like to consider an alternative approach, to give you more to choose from.

"Contigo pan y cebolla" is obviously an expression of unconditional love or great affection: you satisfy all my needs, if I can be with you I don't care about material privation.

At the same time, in this particular context, in the dedication of a book about cuisine, the food allusion in "pan y cebolla" is surely deliberate. It is accentuated by "endulzar" just afterwards. In this kind of situation it is often a mistake to try to reproduce the wordplay, because the result can be rather forced and you stray too far from the literal meaning. However, it may be worth trying to find a way of producing a similar effect.

Calling someone your "bread and wine" is readily understood, I think, as meaning that the person is very special to you, that they satisfy your deepest needs. Bread and wine are the most basic culinary elements, at least in Spain, and they have spiritual overtones too, for that matter.

It's true that this is not so much of a set phrase as "pan y cebolla", but it has been used in songs, for example, such as Ray Charles's "Come Live with Me" (covered by The Waterboys, among others):

"Come live with me
And won't you be my love
Share my bread and wine
Be wife to me
Be life to me
Be mine"

Or The Cowboy Junkies:
"Bread and wine, bread and wine, won't you please be my bread and wine"

And then there's the most famous line in Edward Fitzgerald's translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:
"A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread--and Thou".

Another idea for you to think about!


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Note added at 2 hrs (2011-04-09 23:21:51 GMT)
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Fair enough, Eileen, it was just a thought. "Bread and butter" did occur to me as well! Personally I feel that here "pan y cebolla" doesn't particularly imply hard times, it just means "I'm especially fond of you". And although the religious overtones are potentially there in "bread and wine", I think it would be taken as a kind of jokey hyperbole for the sake of a food reference, as in the original. But it's a matter of personal response.

With the context you've provided, this is how I read it and how it comes out for me! I've only put medium because I would like to be able to include some sense that the sharing hasn't stopped yet, but can't find a way to do it without being too longwinded...

Of course, to stick with the food motif, we'd have to look at sth like "for every morsel we've shared", but the figurative implication is not so clear in English, whereas the Spanish expression is wonderful at both levels.

yet another option!

or even, "through good times and bad"

some examples from 36 million ghits

We've been through this time together ...Good times and the bad times ...Through the good times and the bad times with me ...Good times and the bad times . ...
lyrics.filestube.com/t/through+the+good+times+and+bad - Cached - Similar

In good times and bad times, I'll be on your side for ever more...that's what friends are for.
thinkexist.com/...good_times...bad_times-i-ll.../9729.html - Cached - Similar

I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face ...

More Samples of Wedding Vow ... - Funny Wedding Vows - Guide to Wedding Vows
weddings.about.com/cs/bridesandgrooms/a/vowwording.htm - Cached - Similar



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Note added at 1 day4 hrs (2011-04-11 01:04:02 GMT)
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We all go through good and bad times and Alison I know is well acquainted with that. Perhaps because of that Alison has been able to produce a collection of ...
www.ajtmusic.co.uk/music.html - Cached

The good and bad times. Where your life was leading. And I know you've been through hell. Yes, I know all about it. And I've seen your cool white face ...
www.metrolyrics.com/good-bad-times-lyrics-inxs.html - Cached - Similar