Tomatoes as food have an interesting history. I know only part of it. They are members of the nightshade family and in some places some people thought them to be poisonous. At least that’s what Britannica (and my mother) say. You can’t beat those sources.
They were also treated as a fruit in some places. My maternal grandfather, for example, ate them with cream and sugar.
Don’t let those dirty Italians make you think that they have the tasty tomato market cornered. They didn’t even have tomatoes until explorers brought them back fom the New World in the 1500’s. In other words, they stole them and then used them in almost every single famous recipe to make people think that they invented tomatoes.
You can get plent of good tomatoes in the U.S. too, just not from a large grocery store. The tomatoes there are grown and packed for shipping and longer storage, not for flavor. To get really good ones, you most go to a farmstand, a high-end specialty grocer, or (preferably) grow your own.
I have some heirloom Brandwine tomatoes started in my basement right now and they are going to be fabulous. You can’t ever get those types of really good tomatoes at the store because they are too fragile to be shipped and stored for a long time.
This reminds me of the short story “Pigs is Pigs”
My 7 year old says tomatoes are ‘fregtables’. Actually, he says they are ‘gross’, but fregtable is the food group.
A Staff Report by SDSTAFF Terey : What’s the difference between fruits and vegetables?