The Beautiful Tomato

     Here are a few varieties of tomatoes I've grown in my garden this year plus one I just bought from a local produce stand (that giant yellow variety at the top). Over the past couple of years I have given a lot of thought as to where my food actually comes from. Most of this blog has in fact been dedicated to food. So, in this post I want to talk a little about tomatoes. 

     One thing that fascinates me are the endless varieties of tomatoes that are out there. There are all sorts of shapes, sizes, and colors to choose from and any trip to a local farmers market gives the impression of a wealth of diversity. However, as I started researching tomato varieties, I learned that all tomato varieties we find here, either in a supermarket or a farmer's market, are all the same species, Solanum lycopersicum. Humans have created many varieties of tomatoes through artificial selection and this explains the origins of most heirloom varieties we have today.

     Even the supermarket variety, sold during the winter, perfectly red, and still on the vine, is the same species...but that is where the similarities end. If tomatoes are a summer time crop why are they still sold in supermarkets during the coldest of winters? Why is anything out of season sold in a supermarket for that matter? The answer is mostly through importing it from world regions that are warm enough to grow tomatoes during the northern hemisphere's winter. 

The supermarket tomato

     The tomato is a little different though. Tomatoes can be grown year round in the U.S. in states like Florida or inside factory size green houses that dot the landscape as far north as Maine (if you want to read more about these green houses click here). Florida is not at all ideal for growing tomatoes however. There is very little soil (mostly sand) and it is far too humid, which is a perfect for fungus and insects. To combat weeds, fungus, and insects Florida tomato growers spray their fields with 110 herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides annually. Thirty-four of these herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides are known and proven to cause brain and nervous system damage, harm human reproductive systems (causing birth defects), cause cancer, and can cause death when in contact with human skin. Most of these chemicals are banned outright for most crops but are still perfectly legal for tomato production. This is mainly due to powerful agriculture lobbies in Florida. Since these chemicals are used every year a large amount remain in Florida's sandy soil and residual chemicals are routinely found on supermarket tomatoes but nothing higher than "acceptable levels". Unfortunately, the large (mostly immigrant and mostly poor) workforce that picks Florida's tomatoes are exposed to amounts far higher than what is considered acceptable.     

     All of this for those perfectly round and nearly tasteless tomatoes that people buy during the winter. The search for perfection can be a troubling thing. The tomatoes from my garden look lumpy in comparison. Most end up cracking or have a soft spot or two but the taste and quality is far superior. Say no to out of season foods. Demand quality.

*sources: 

Vegetable Production Handbook of Florida 2010-2011 (link)

               

Estabrook, Barry. 2011. Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit. Andrews McMeel Publishing LLC, Kansas City, Missouri.

Take care of yourself and each other.