The vibrant fruit of the tomato is one of the most commonly grown crops throughout the world. Cultivated and widely produced all over the world from the herb gardens of the metropolitan cities to the vast orchards in the countryside, from the western coasts of America to the Orient. This is the story of a journey. A journey that took thousands of years, from the orchards of South America to your table!
“At the end of the day, you cannot compete with Mother Nature. If you’ve got a great tomato, just a pinch of sea salt is all you need.” - Zac Posen
Origin of Tomato
Tomato is one of the oldest wild fruits in the world. Although the exact period is widely debated among scientists, the cherry-sized tomato is said to have originated in Ecuador. It is widely considered that the tomato is a plant that existed before humans walked on the earth!
A team of scientists studying the prehistoric lake bed in Laguna del Hunco in Argentina discovered the fossilized remains of a tomato that is said to date back to 52.2 million years ago! The tomato was likely preserved for millennia when it fell into a lake next to a volcano. This discovery shows that tomatoes have existed about 30-50 million years longer than researchers had expected!
It is believed that the cultivation of the early blueberry-sized fruits of the yellow tomato began during the foraging years of our ancestors in South America about 12000 years ago. Over a period of time, these golden fruits spread northwards towards Mesoamerica from human tribal movements as well as by birds and animals. After centuries of persistence as a wild fruit, the tomato was first domesticated in Central America about 7000 years ago.
During the Spanish Conquest of Mexico in 1519, Hernan Cortes discovered the tomatoes growing in Montezuma’s gardens as the most important crop of the Aztecs. He brought the seeds of the fruit back to Europe as a prize. However, the tomatoes were not eaten but only used as an ornamental decoration!
The journey from the gardens to the table
The longest journey that the tomato had to travel through was not from the Americas to Europe but from the ornamental gardens to the kitchen tables!
In the first half of the 16th century, the Spanish ships returning from the Americas had brought tomatoes to every Mediterranean country. The tomato had a dubious reputation for the Europeans as it was exceedingly similar in appearance to the Deadly Nightshade plant that was known throughout Europe as highly poisonous. Early botanists classified tomatoes in the Solanaceae family which called for more caution than the other members of the family including varieties of nightshade and wolfsbane. To make matters worse, every part of the tomato plant with the sole exception of its fruit is actually poisonous!
It took about 300 years and a lot of persuasion for the Europeans to embrace the tomato and the ones who were responsible for persuading the Europeans about the deliciousness of tomatoes were the Italians.
Italy was the first to embrace and cultivate tomatoes outside South America. It was brought to Italy in 1548 and was given the name pomi d’oro which translates to apples of gold. This shows that the early varieties of tomato which reached Europe were the small yellow fruits. In modern times, the tomato is symbolic of Italian cuisine which has evolved the dynamic of Italian food over the period of time and become an integral part of it. Hundreds of years of Italian cookbooks were the core reason that the Europeans were finally able to acquaint themselves with tomatoes.
Tomatoes were brought to India, China and all other parts of Asia by Portuguese traders in the 17th century. The most interesting part of the journey of the tomato is that it did not travel to the United States and Canada through its regional route from Mexico but was brought through Europe!
Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson of Salem, New Jersey had brought the tomato from Spain in 1808. Similar to the Europeans, the tomato was not accepted by the people considering it as dangerous due to its brightly coloured fruit. It was Colonel Johnson who proved once and for all that tomatoes were safe for consumption on September 26, 1820. He stood on the steps of the Salem courthouse and consumed an entire basket of tomatoes. His stunt attracted a crowd of over 2,000 people who were certain he was committing public suicide! It bought the attention of all Americans and tomato was almost instantly publicly adopted throughout America.
Tomato – A Global Artist
The tomato was cultivated and used throughout every corner of the world by the middle of the 19th century. It traces its modern English name of ‘tomato’ from its origin as it was known as ‘tomatl’ in Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs)
A wild plant that started from 16 varieties growing on the western coasts of South America has evolved over the ages to more than 10000 varieties grown all over the planet with the leading tomato-producing countries in the world being China, India, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Italy, Spain, USA and Brazil.
