Storyteller's World

You learn something new and amazing every day. I mean, I knew tomatoes had been introduced to this country from somewhere, but not that it was as recently as the 1870s or 80s. Flora Thompson's Lark Rise to Candleford has this lovely cameo:

It was on Jerry's cart tomatoes first appeared in the hamlet. They had not long been introduced into this country and were slowly making their way into favour. The fruit was flatter in shape then than now and deeply grooved and indented from the stem, giving it an almost starlike appearance. There were bright yellow ones, too, as well as the scarlet; but, after a few years, the yellow ones disappeared from the market and the red ones became rounder and smoother, as we see them now.

At first sight, the basket of red and yellow fruit attracted Laura's colour-loving eye. 'What are these?' she asked old Jerry.

'Love-apples, me dear. Love-apples, they be; though some hignorant folks be a callin' 'em tommytoes. But you don't want any o' they - nasty sour things, they be, as only gentry can eat. You have a nice sweet orange wi' your penny.' But Laura felt she must taste the love-apples and insisted upon having one.

Such daring created quite a sensation among the onlookers. 'Don't 'ee go tryin' to eat it, now,' one woman urged. 'It'll only make 'ee sick. I know because I had one of the nasty horrid things at our Minnie's.' And nasty, horrid things tomatoes remained in the popular estimation for years ...

There is just so much social and class history here to reflect on. Wikipedia confirms that tomatoes were initially unpopular in Europe generally, because it was known the plant was related to deadly nightshade, and thought to be poisonous. And now, they are more or less a staple item of many people's diet.