The human race hasn’t always gotten along with tomatoes.

In fact, in Europe during the 1500’s, tomatoes killed the rich and fed the poor. Literally.

The reason? The wealthy population ate their food off of pewter plates using pewter flatware. Pewter contains lead. The acid of a tomato would cause the lead in the pewter to leach out into the food, in essence, poisoning the individual who consumed it. The poorer populations didn’t have pewter dishes or utensils. Instead, they ate their food from wooden dishes with a wooden spoon – which saved their lives when it came to consuming tomatoes. As a result, you had part of the population crying out beware the tomato! – While the other part cried out more tomatoes please! It must have been a confusing time to be alive.

Continue reading “A Bit of Saucy Tomato History” →