Tomatoes

Most of you know my sheer adoration of Italian cuisine. I love pizza, pasta, and lasagna. So what I am about to say may come as a surprise to you - I don't like tomatoes. But my dislike of tomatoes comes with a caveat. I like tomatoes when they come in the form of sauce, say, on a pizza or something like that, but I just don't do raw tomatoes. I don't put them on my sandwich, my salad, or eat them when they appear on a veggie plate at a party. I'm not really sure why. I have never been a fan of the flavor (watery rubber, pretty tasteless), and I think what made it worse was the fact that tomatoes are always integrated with other foods (I've already mentioned I'm a food segregationist). So seeing as how there are so many things I haven't tried, and given the fact that I do remember at some point trying tomatoes, and not being a fan of them, you probably would have seen the appearance of tomatoes (if at all) in a much later blog entry. But when I started this mission to get out my comfort zone and give scary foods a chance, the tomato was one of the first foods I thought about trying again. And here's why. 

My trip to Italy exposed me to so many things - Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, and the David. But what I remember most about Italy was the AMAZING food. Our first night in Italy was a treasure. We found ourselves in one of the many squares in Rome. After venturing down one of the many side streets, we came upon a little restaurant. There was outdoor seating at the restaurant, which gave us a preview of the food they were serving. And let's just say it looked delicious. So having been sold on the appearance of the food, we sat down at one of the tables and proceeded to be served one of the most delicious meals I've ever had, and hands down, the best Italian food I've ever had. 

But what I remember most about this meal was the Italian appetizer that we ordered - Bruschetta. Now I've had bruschetta in America, but it was just nothing compared to this bruschetta. In America, the highlight of bruschetta for had always been the bread. The tomatoes never had much flavor, so it was like eating a watery, rubbery substance with seeds - I hope that doesn't sound appetizing to you because it certainly never was for me. But my first bite into my Italian bruschetta was sheer BLISS. The tomatoes were so sweet and juicy - nothing like the bland tomatoes I get here in America. I couldn't believe how amazing the tomatoes were. I gobbled up the bruschetta like it was crack cocaine, and sat back amazed that I had eaten so many tomatoes. So what did I learn from this experience? Simply put - American tomatoes SUCK. No wonder I never liked them - I had never experienced the pleasure of a true tomato. 

So fast forward a couple years and here we are. I start thinking about the foods I want to try, and I decide that I simply haven't given tomatoes a fair shake. After all, it's not the tomato's fault that grocery stores insist on selling ones that have no flavor. Plus, from my reading, tomatoes have amazing nutrients. How can I not try to make these amazing little vegetables part of my diet? 

I dig out my cookbook for something easy and simple, and I come upon a recipe for caprese salad on crostini. The crostini is easy enough to make - take a baguette, cut it into thin slices, lightly brush olive oil, salt and pepper, and rosemary, and bake the slices until they are golden brown. Once the crostini is done, add one fresh basil leaf, a tomato slice, and fresh mozzarella, and voila - you have an amazing little appetizer that incorporates fresh tomatoes. But when I made my caprese, I didn't get the crappy store bought tomatoes. I bought tomatoes from the farmer's market, and low and behold, the flavor was AMAZING. I was so shocked to find tomatoes that had flavor right in my home town. Plus, the tomatoes mixed with basil and fresh mozzarella was a perfect blend of ingredients! Since eating caprese, I've experimented with cherry tomatoes, which are easy enough to add to a salad. I also incorporate tomatoes in wraps, which combine chicken, spinach, and tomatoes (this feat is also shocking - spinach AND tomatoes mixed together!). I still have a little bit of trepidation with tomatoes because I always have this fear that I am going to get one that isn't good. But like all new things, you just have to keep trying and eventually you won't even remember why you ever had the fear in the first place.

Some fun facts about tomatoes:

1. There are so many amazing characteristics of tomatoes. The first being that the red color comes from an extraordinary amount of the potent antioxidant beta-carotene. I think I've talked about beta-carotene before, but this antioxidant has been linked to reduced cancer risk. Tomatoes also contain chlorogenic acid, which is believed to help detoxify carcinogens and viruses. Plus, tomatoes contain high levels of lutein and zeaxanthin for preventing eye diseases. But perhaps the greatest nutrient found in tomatoes is lycopene, an antioxidant that is found to be even more powerful than vitamin C in the fight against cancer. Interestingly, eating cooked or processed tomatoes isn't all that bad for you - food processing actually increases the presence of lycopene astronomically (compare 42 milligrams in two tablespoons of tomato paste to 3 milligrams in one medium raw tomato). Harvard studies suggest that we should be eating one or two tomato products every day.
2. While it is generally agreed that tomatoes originated in South America, there is much debate over how the vegetable made it to Europe. Many historians believe that Cortez, the Spanish explorer, brought a small yellow tomato (similar in size to a cherry tomato) to Europe after he captured the Aztec City (now Mexico City) in 1521. Others give Christopher Columbus the credit for bringing it back with him to Europe in 1493. The tomato made its first appearance in European literature in 1544, when Pietro Andrea Mattioli dubbed it the pomo d'oro or "golden apple."
3. Thomas Jefferson first experienced tomatoes in Paris and sent some seeds back to America. Today, California and Florida produced the largest crops of tomatoes in America. About 130 million tons of tomatoes were produced across the world in 2008. The biggest producer? China, which accounted for about one quarter of the global output.The U.S. came in third.
4. Apparently finding a good tomato can be as difficult and expensive as finding a purebred puppy. Heirloom tomatoes, which claim to boast more flavor and have a better texture, are considered the best sort of tomatoes one can buy. However, like puppies, there has been a lot of inbreeding of heirloom tomatoes, which have resulted in a loss of healthy genes. There is currently a movement to  bring the heirloom tomato back to the status it had in its glory days. Really, who would have thought growing a good tomato would be that complicated???

Sources:

1. 101 Healthiest Foods: A quick and easy guide to the fruits, vegetables, carbs and proteins that can save your life, Dr. Joanna McMillan Price and Judy Davie (2009).
2. Wikipedia - Tomato
3. Scientific American - How to Grow a Better Tomato: The Case against Heirloom Tomatoes