Lithose
Buzzfeed Editor
I'm still stuck on tomatoes being a wealthy food. Someone explain so I can move on with my life.
Aren't tomatoes a new world food? so they didn't exist before like 1550 to anyone in europe
Yes, tomatoes didn't exist in Europe before trade began, they were a central american crop. And while, like a lot of fruits, they are now seen as as a cheap additive to other dishes, for the most part before refrigeration all fruits were rather expensive relatively. Most meals consisted of cereal products, and vegetables (Which keep a lot longer). In season you'd have seen them eaten, but mostly they were typically food for the wealthy. When you're fighting famines, food that doesn't keep well just doesn't make sense to grow.
Not to mention, back then tomatoes didn't look like you think a tomato does today. Even the fruit itself was radically changed. The modern tomato you eat is really, really different from what was found being cultivated here--its bred for shelf life, and be transportable and have more flesh.
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