Many people have asked, “Why the tomato?” I chose the tomato because has multiple taste-purposes, experienced its fair share of abuse from the food industry and it is used by most cultures in food. When I was growing up, I remember that nobody knew if tomatoes were a fruit or a vegetable. They have seeds and grow on vines like fruits, but we eat them in dishes that are thought of as side veggies, not side fruits. When I think of a tomato based curry or tomato sauce, I think of those as vegetable dishes. When I was younger, I personally never found tomatoes to be a treat like other fruits, they were as much of a chore as salad or broccoli. Tomatoes are one of the most inconsistent items of produce around. They can be sweet and delicious or mealy and inedible. Tomatoes are one of the few items of produce that have never been clearly categorized.
Tomatoes have also been affected and manipulated by the food industry. The reason why tomatoes can be in the grocery store year round is because most tomatoes are genetically modified organisms (GMOs). At my high school, The Urban School of San Francisco, our science teacher had us read about tomatoes in our genetics class. In the article “Rich Tomato, Poor Tomato” by Michael Idov, I learned about the process that most heirloom tomatoes undergo in order to appear beautiful yet tasteless in the supermarket (New York Times Magazine. September 17, 2006). Tomatoes have undergone so much experimentation, that in order to appear normal in the produce aisle, they are picked before ripe, bathed in a chlorinated bath, stay in a “ripening room”, and then sprayed with ethylene. They are sprayed with ethylene to “turn tomatoes the desired sunset shade” (New York Times Magazine). The tomatoes’ identity crisis is exacerbated by the food industry’s aim towards homogeny and accessibility. GMOs have turned the growing of tomatoes into an unnatural process. This over-processing of produce has led for tomatoes to be accessible year round and sit in a grocery store for over a week without undergoing any changes to the taste or texture of the tomato (New York Times Magazine). Tomatoes are a key example of the changes that have occurred in farming over the past century hence another reason why the tomato is part of the title of this blog.
Another reason why I chose the tomato, is that tomatoes are consumed by most cultures. Tomatoes are used in many Italian, Middle Eastern, American, French, African, Indian, etc. recipes. I have yet to find a recipe book that does not call for the use of tomatoes in at least one recipe. Due to their ambiguity, they can be used in any dish. Some cultures use tomatoes for their acidity and tang, while others use them for their smooth texture and sweet taste. Some people grow tomatoes in their backyard and can eat them in their most simple form, off the vine, but the same household probably also has ketchup in their refrigerator. I used to think I hated tomatoes until I realized that I probably consume them in some form at least daily. Think about it.
The tomato has played an oddly prominent role in the food world. It is consumed by many and frequently; however, the sacrifices made in quality for accessibility should not be ignored. Tomatoes are a treasured fruit that have been both botched up by the food industry and preserved by the home gardener. I chose the tomato to be in the title of my blog because it is one of the better and subtler examples of how the food industry has altered some of the most popular foods.
