One of the first memories I have is when I was 3. I was sitting on my blue living room carpet, wearing a cotton pink pajama set. A large red tomato is sitting in my hand. I sunk my teeth into the soft, juicy skin; juice running down the sides of my mouth. Looking back at it I started to question, why did I eat a tomato like an apple? Then I becamemore curious about tomatoes. When are tomatoes in season? Where do they grown? How long is their shelf life? Where did the idea of throwing like rotten tomatoes at performers come from? Who came up with the idea to paint a can of tomato soup? Why is there debate about whether it’s a fruit or vegetable?
The earliest reference to tomatoes was in North America in 1710 when herbalist William Salmon reported seeing them in what is now South Carolina. Then again in 1870, Alexander W. Livingston succeeded in upgrading wild tomatoes. Because tomatoes grow best in heat, they grow best in Florida and California. In relation to the debate about whether it’s a fruit or vegetable, botanically it is a fruit because simply, it has seeds. But for culinary purposes it is considered a vegetable.
Throwing tomatoes at bad performers in theatre has become a very well known stereotype in the theatre world. The earliest reference to throwing rotten food at performers was in 63 A.D. when Vespasianus Ceasar Augustus was hit with turnips in the midst of a riot in Hadrumetum. Eggs were also used as a weapon in religious and political protest. Then in 1883, a New York Times article referenced rotten tomatoes and eggs being thrown at John Ritchie.
Speaking of throwing rotten tomatoes, every year in Brunol, Spain there is an annual tomato throwing festival known as La Tomatina. It started in 1944 or 1945. No one is 100% sure how it started, but there are several different theories. The most popular theory is that aggravated townspeople attacked city councilmen with tomatoes during a town celebration. It also is held in honor of the town’s patron sait, Luis Bertran and the Mare de Deu dels Desemparats (Mother of God of the Defenseless), which is another name for the Virgin Mary. This annual festival is held on the last Wednesday of August and is know as the “World’s Biggest Food Fight” where one hundred metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are throwing in the streets. In 2012 there reported to be 50,000 people present at the tomato fight, which is way over the normal 9,000 person population.
There is also an annual Tomato Art Festival held every year in August in East Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 2004, and it started as an art show in the Art and Invention Gallery owned by Meg and Bret MacFadyen. The festivities include a parade a 5K run, much entertainment, and an art gallery. They also choose a tomato king and queen, unfortunately I was unable to learn more about the tomato king and queen because it is still decently far away from the festival and I assume they are still in festival planning mode.
After reading about all these different cultural and historical facts about tomatoes I became more curious about buying and selling tomatoes, mostly buying tomatoes from farmers markets. I went to the local farmers market in Orange, CA and I was able to interview 3 different proprietors who sold tomatoes. All three, being unnamed for privacy purposes, are locally grown and sold. They all refrain from using pesticides but they all use some type of natural fertilizer. They are all organic, but 2 of the growers were not organically certified and the 3rd was in the process to become certified. The stands also grew tons of other products like lettuce, turnips, potatoes, onions and much more. When asked if their prices changed depending on the season, seller #1 said yes because of the amountof the crop they get. Seller #2 said that they try to keep relatively the same price, but they mostly price their produce based on other sellers. While seller #3 said that they keep the same price mostly all year round. I asked if these sellers also grew tomatoes, which all of them did. But because tomatoes grow best in warm or hot weather, 2 of the sellers do not have any to sell out of season. Seller #3 did have tomatoes to sell because they grew them in a greenhouse, but the downside of these tomatoes is that they are not as sweet as the ones that are grown in the warmer spring and summer months.
Campbell’s Soup. Since 1898, the red and white can has been a household item. In 1962, Andy Warhol was preparing new renditions of ads and comic strips when he solicited suggestions from a friend. His friend said he should choose something everyone will recognize, like Campbell’s Soup. With inspiration running through his head, Warhol went to the store and bought multiple cans of Campbell’s soup and started tracing the projections on to canvas. And so his extremely famous portraits of the Campbell’s Soup cans were created.
So that simple red fruit I had held in my hand at the age of 3 had a larger history that I had ever expected. What will you do with your next tomato?
pantherbites 