The Tomato Was Feared in Europe for More Than 200 Years

I often wonder what Chinese food was like before South American ingredients showed up: chilli, tomato, corn, potato, etc. Probably quite different indeed. The scale of indoor cultivation, the mere handful of modern commercial cultivars and the supermarket emphasis on bulging red perfect-skin appearance makes me wonder if tomatoes aren't one of the fruits worst affected by monoculture farming. I've cut in to some tomatoes and found them dry, almost juiceless, and semi-green despite a healthy looking red exterior. I suppose there is some sort of growth hormone being used. I suspect lots of them are hydroponically grown, which means although they may have a fantastic appearance I fear they are likely lacking in trace elements and subjectively overall taste.

The potato has a similar early history in Europe, which is funny seeing that it's such a staple and cliche by now:

>The Burgundians invented the French appellation pomme de terre–but they also banned it on the grounds that it caused leprosy. While intendant of Limoges in 1761, the enlightened physiocrat Turgot tried to dispel the popular belief that the purple flower of the potato was a version of deadly nightshade by eating it in public and making peasants sit next to him to observe that he was not poisoned. The French were not, of course, alone in their prejudices. In 1770 famine-afflicted Neapolitans refused to touch a boatload of potatoes sent as a gift; burghers of Kolberg in Prussia told Frederick the Great, ‘the things have neither smell nor taste, not even the dogs will eat them, so what are they to us?’; and Russian peasants distrusted the potato because it was not mentioned in the Bible, believed that it caused cholera and rioted when attempts were made to force them to grow it.

From Blanning's The Pursuit of Glory, 399.1 in my ebook

Tom Brady, superstar American football quarterback with notably few injuries, STILL won't eat tomatoes, eggplant, and other nightshades. I'm inclined to think he's nuts, but his longevity in a brutal sport is pretty impressive.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/tom-bra...

> Around this time it was also believed that tomatoes were best eaten in hotter countries

That part is still true. I'm always amazed how nice tomatoes taste in Italy.