who was the first person to eat a tomato

Who was the first person to grow tomatoes?

Livingston, who had a serious green thumb from an early age, began a seed company in 1850. The first tomatoes he ever encountered grew wild, he wrote in Livingston and the Tomato, and his mother told him they were poison: “Even the hogs will not eat them.”

What is the Secret History of the tomato?

From Poison to Passion: The Secret History of the Tomato. Before Alexander Livingston came along, tomatoes were "small, hollow, tough, watery" fruits. Or so Livingston wrote in his 1893 tome, Livingston and the Tomato . While grown and used throughout pre-Civil War America, tomatoes weren’t widely embraced.

How many tomatoes are eaten each year?

Each area of the world has its own tomato history and how it is used in everyday dining. It appears though that tomatoes have had the largest impact on American eating habits, as they are responsible for enjoying over 12 million tons of tomatoes each year. Fruit or Vegetable?

Why did the British believe that tomatoes were poisonous?

The British, for example, admired the tomato for its beauty, but believe that it was poisonous, as its appearance was similar to that of the wolf peach. (A visitor named David had this to add to the history of the Tomato.

Who discovered tomatoes not poisonous?

Colonel JohnsonAs the story is told, it was Colonel Johnson who on September 26, 1820 once and for all proved tomatoes non-poisonous and safe for consumption.

Did Thomas Jefferson eat a tomato?

We can say with certainty that Thomas Jefferson both cultivated and ate tomatoes from 1809 until 1824 and quite possibly grew them as early as 1781. Tomatoes were not as popular in Jefferson's time and were often believed to be poisonous because of their membership in the Nightshade plant family.

Who first used tomatoes in cooking?

Brought to Europe by the Spanish when they colonized the Americas -- it's an Aztec plant, as we can tell by its original name, "tomatl" -- by the mid-1500s, it had made its way to Italy. Nobody quite knows how -- some think the Sephardic Jews, expelled from Spain in 1492, could have brought it with them.

Who were the first people to eat tomatoes in Europe?

Italians first grew the tomato about 1550 and apparently were the first Europeans to eat it. About 25 years later it was grown in English, Spanish, and mid-European gardens as a curiosity, with little or no interest in it then as food.

Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

FruitTomato / Fruit or VegetableTo a botanist, a fruit is an entity that develops from the fertilized ovary of a flower. This means that tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, corn kernels, and bean and pea pods are all fruits; so are apples, pears, peaches, apricots, melons and mangos.

Why is a tomato a fruit not a vegetable?

Tomatoes are botanically defined as fruits because they form from a flower and contain seeds. Still, they're most often utilized like a vegetable in cooking. In fact, the US Supreme Court ruled in 1893 that the tomato should be classified as a vegetable on the basis of its culinary applications.

What did Italy eat before tomatoes?

Before tomatoes, the Italian diet was largely similar to the diet throughout the rest of the Mediterranean. Bread, pasta, olives, and beans were all staples, and Italians also made a variety of different types of polenta.

Why are there no tomatoes in Chinese food?

Because tomatoes lack the significance in Chinese culture that they hold in Italian culture—as a symbol of nationalism—tomatoes are not used to the degree that they are in Italy. The cuisines of both nations also feature strong variation depending on the region.

What was pizza before tomatoes?

A precursor of pizza was probably the focaccia, a flatbread known to the Romans as panis focacius, to which toppings were then added. Modern pizza evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, Italy, in the 18th or early 19th century.

Where is tomato originally from?

From its origins as a wild plant in the Americas to the thousands of varieties grown around the world today, tomatoes have evolved into one of the world's most popular food crops. Today's tomatoes began as wild plants in the Andes, growing in parts of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Was considered poisonous for nearly 200 years?

The tomato was feared for 200 YEARS by Europeans who called it 'poison apple' and thought it to be sinful and seductive. Centuries before it became a key ingredient in salads and sauces, the humble and versatile tomato was believed to be deadly.

When did tomatoes become red?

About 65 million years ago, scientists believe, a meteor impact incinerated a large swath of the planet, threw up a massive ash cloud and prompted to the extinction of most dinosaurs; soon afterwards, the plant that eventually evolved into the tomato tripled the size of its genome, according to Phys.org — adding at ...

What was Thomas Jefferson's favorite food?

Thomas Jefferson: Mac and cheese.

When did the first person eat a tomato?

The tomato was eaten by the Aztecs as early as 700 AD and called the “tomatl,” (its name in Nahuatl), and wasn't grown in Britain until the 1590s.

Did Thomas Jefferson discover tomatoes?

So, did Thomas Jefferson introduce the tomato to America? Nope. That's an other myth. Probably Jewish merchants introduced the fruit, probably because they were widely engaged in trans-Atlantic trade and because most were of Spanish or Portuguese descent and so were familiar with tomatoes from the 1500s.

Did Thomas Jefferson grow tomatoes?

We can say with certainty that Thomas Jefferson both cultivated and ate tomatoes from 1809 until 1824 and quite possibly grew them as early as 1781. Tomatoes were not as popular in Jefferson's time and were often believed to be poisonous because of their membership in the Nightshade plant family.

Who was the first person to eat tomato?

In 1988, Good Morning America reported that Colonel Johnson was the first to eat a tomato in the United States, but there are hundreds such stories about other individuals – Thomas Jefferson, a Shaker bride, immigrant Italians, and many others – despite the fact that the tomato was long recognized as edible throughout Europe and Central and South America.

Who was the first horticulturalist to write about marshland?

Johnson was an active horticulturalist and was a president of the New Jersey Horticultural Society, and wrote about draining marshland in The American Farmer in 1826. Johnson 's later reputation credited him with introducing the tomato into the area around 1820.

Where did the word "tomato" come from?

The English word tomato comes from the Spanish word, tomate, derived Nahuatl (Aztec language) word, tomatl. It first appeared in print in 1595. A member of the deadly nightshade family, tomatoes were erroneously thought to be poisonous (although the leaves are poisonous) by Europeans who were suspicious of their bright, shiny fruit.

What was the first tomato to be grown in Europe?

Most likely the first variety to reach Europe was yellow in color, since in Spain and Italy they were known as pomi d'oro, meaning yellow apples. Italy was the first to embrace and cultivate the tomato outside South America.

What is the botanical name for a tomato?

French botanist Tournefort provided the Latin botanical name, Lycopersicon esculentum, to the tomato. It translates to "wolfpeach" —peach because it was round and luscious and wolf because it was erroneously considered poisonous. The botanist mistakenly took the tomato for the wolfpeach referred to by Galen in his third century writings, ie., poison in a palatable package which was used to destroy wolves.

Why are tomatoes called pommes d'amour?

The French referred to the tomato as pommes d'amour, or love apples, as they thought them to have stimulating aphrodisiacal properties.

Where did tomatoes come from?

The tomato is native to western South America and Central America. In 1519, Cortez discovered tomatoes growing in Montezuma's gardens and brought seeds back to Europe where they were planted as ornamental curiosities, but not eaten. Most likely the first variety to reach Europe was yellow in color, since in Spain and Italy they were known as pomi ...

Why is tomato canned?

The high acidic content of the tomato makes it a prime candidate for canning, which is one of the main reasons the tomato was canned more than any other fruit or vegetable by the end of the nineteenth century. Read More.

Who first saw tomato seeds?

The first European contact with tomato came with Christopher Columbus who possibly encountered it in 1493, but it was Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés who first saw the potential of this plant in the sacked city of Aztec city of Tenochtítlan and took its seeds back to Europe.

When was tomato first used as a fruit?

For example, even though Italian nobility and scientists found out about tomato from 1548, (which is now famous for their tomato and ketchup industry), they used it only as a tabletop decoration fruit until late 17th and early 18th century.

How many tons of tomatoes were produced in 2009?

In 2009, worldwide tomato production rose to 158.3 million tons, surpassing the previous year by 3.7%. The largest producers were China with 24% of world production, followed by United States, Turkey, India, Egypt and Italy.

Where did tomato spread?

That culture was Aztecs. From that point on, tomato slowly spread across the central and South America, somewhere being used as a food, but somewhere also being used as a hallucinogenic (a use that will later on be a cause of many misconceptions about this vegetable).

Where did tomato plants originate?

The exact origin of Tomato plant is not known, although it is speculated that it evolved from the prehistoric plant Nighshade over millions of years ago in South America (together with potato, ...

When did tomatoes come to Asia?

That changed in mid-18th century after many advances in selective breeding from Spain and Italy. In early 19th century tomato finally arrived in Asia. It arrived there under the guidance of British consul in Syria John Barker who directed first cultivation efforts. By mid-19th century, tomato gained much popularity and started being used widely ...

When did the Spanish start producing tomatoes?

As early as 1540s tomato started being produced in Spanish fields, and was used regularly as a common food in early 17th century.

Where did tomatoes originate?

The Tomato History has origins traced back to the early Aztecs around 700 A.D; therefore it is believed that the tomato is native to the Americas . It was not until around the 16th century that Europeans were introduced to this fruit when the early explorers set sail to discover new lands. Throughout Southern Europe, the tomato was quickly accepted into the kitchen, yet as it moved north, more resistance was apparent. The British, for example, admired the tomato for its beauty, but believe that it was poisonous, as its appearance was similar to that of the wolf peach.

Why did Europeans think that the tomato was poisonous?

Thanks David!) "...most Europeans thought that the tomato was poisonous because of the way plates and flatware were made in the 1500's. Rich people in that time used flatware made of pewter, which has a high-lead content.

Why is tomato considered a fruit?

Until the late 1800's the tomato was classified as a fruit to avoid taxation, but this was changed after a Supreme Court ruling that the tomato is a vegetable and should be taxed accordingly.

What was the first thing that Italian Americans ate?

First, and most significantly, was the mass immigration from Europe to America and the traditional blending of cultures. Many Italian-Americans ate tomatoes and brought that food with them. But also, and perhaps equally as important, was the invention of pizza.

When was pizza invented?

There is no pizza without tomato sauce, and pizza was invented around Naples in the late 1880's. The story goes that it was created by one restaurateur in Naples to celebrate the visit of Queen Margarite, the first Italian monarch since Napoleon conquered Italy.

Is tomato poisonous in Europe?

The British, for example, admired the tomato for its beauty, but believe that it was poisonous, as its appearance was similar to that of the wolf peach.

Is pizza margarita a vegetable?

And what could have led more to the popularity of the tomato than pizza!". It was not regarded as a kitchen vegetable until the times preceding The Civil War Period in the United States.

Where did the colonists use tomatoes?

Colonists from continental Europe had long used tomatoes for culinary applications and continued doing so in their New World settlements, especially in more urban cities along the Atlantic coast and the Mississippi River. But in isolated rural areas, settlers greeted the unfamiliar tomato with fear and skepticism.

When were tomatoes considered poisonous?

You may have heard that tomatoes were considered poisonous by all but a few Americans until the mid-1800s. Tomato historian Andrew W. Smith set out to clarify this matter in his exhaustively researched book The Tomato in America: Early History, Culture, and Cookery.

How many varieties of Livingston's tomatoes are still available today?

With these, tomato culture began at once to be one of the great enterprises of the country.” (It’s possible that Livingston was not given to understatement or modesty.) The twenty-odd varieties of Livingston’s tomatoes still available in seed form today are considered heirlooms.

What did James Mapes' mother tell him about tomatoes?

His mother told him they were poison: “Even the hogs will not eat them.”. Wrote Working Farmer editor James Mapes, of Newark, New Jersey, the tomato was “long grown in our gardens as an ornamental plant, under the name of Love Apple, before being used at all as a culinary vegetable.

When was the Paragon tomato invented?

Livingston introduced his initial groundbreaking hybrid tomato, the Paragon, in 1870. He called it “the first perfectly and uniformly smooth tomato ever introduced to the American Public.”. Before Livingston, breeders would plant the seeds of promising-looking individual fruits.

Who started the seed company in 1850?

Cherry, pear, and egg-shaped tomatoes were common at the time, but larger tomatoes tended to be lumpy and ridged. Enter Alexander Livingston. Livingston, who had a serious green thumb from an early age, began a seed company in 1850.

Is tomato poisonous?

Before tomatoes became America's sweetheart, they were seen as watery, tough and possibly poisonous. While grown and used throughout pre-Civil War America, tomatoes weren’t widely embraced. Tomatoes – Lycopersicon esculentum – are in the Solanaceae family, which includes deadly nightshades and other poisonous plants;

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