“I, Nate the Great, say your tomatoes were eaten by an animal. Maybe a rabbit, or a raccoon, or a squirrel, or a deer. We will search your garden for clues.”
from Nate the Great and the Missing Tomatoes
by Andrew Sharmat
illustrated by Olga and Aleksey Ivanov
Delacorte Press/Penguin Random House, 2022
I know. It’s been June for over a week, and I accidentally called up "This Day in History" for May 10, not June 10.
So, while June 9 (yesterday) was my 10th blogiversary, the tomato research was well on its way, so here goes.
Even though today.com says the tomato debate is as old as time, it probably only dates back about 7,000 years! when wild tomatoes that thrived in ancient Peru were domesticated. The Incas had cultivated and were cooking tomato dishes by the 1400s.
Soon after, the conquistadors discovered tomatoes’ yummy versatility. They brought tomatoes back to Europe, and by the mid 1500s, tomatoes were used in recipes from England and Spain to France and Italy. When the British and others came to America to colonize the land, they brought tomatoes back to the “New World.” By the mid 1800s, through that circuitous route, the tomato was accepted into American cuisine.
On the national scene, James A. Garfield was elected president in 1880 on a promise, among others, to reform the Civil Service. He was assassinated in 1881, and Chester A. Arthur, after serving only six months as Vice President, rose to the presidency. He inherited daunting tasks, notably Civil Service reform, which had only just begun.
But he is best remembered for his tariff policy.
The Tariff of 1883, which Arthur supported, tried to walk the fine line between reducing the rates established by earlier legislation and protecting key industries. Yes, it’s complicated.
The 1880s saw the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Tariffs were tools of economic policy that raised significant revenue in the time before Income Tax was collected. It also influenced domestic industries and international trade relations.
The North wanted protective tariffs to favor American industries over imported goods, while the South, still dependent on agriculture and exports, opposed those same tariffs on imported goods. The debate over tariffs was not just about economics; it was a reflection of the competing interests of different regions and their visions for America's future.
Still trying to balance the needs of industrialists with those of consumers, Arthur often found himself looking for common ground between many factions of a quickly changing American society.
In 1882, he appointed the Tariff Commission and tasked them with investigating and recommending changes to tariff law based on a systematic approach.
So what about tomatoes?
The Tariff Act of 1883 required a tax to be paid on imported vegetables, but not fruit.
About ten years later, the Supreme Court took a case based on a suit filed by John Nix & Co. against the Collector of the Port of New York, Edward L. Hedden. Nix was looking to recover back duties paid under protest. He said tomatoes are fruits, not vegetables, and he should not have had to pay the tax (tariff).
Definitions from several different dictionaries were entered into evidence on both sides. After deliberation, the Supreme Court decided tomatoes should be classified as vegetables, not fruits.
It was May 10, 1893, exactly 131 years and 11 months ago. Based on how they are used and popular perception, tomatoes should be classified under the customs regulations as a vegetable. The Court’s decision was unanimous.
Justice Horace Gray, writing the opinion for the Court, acknowledged that botanically, tomatoes are classified as a “fruit of the vine,” but are known as vegetables “because they were usually eaten as a main course instead of being eaten as a dessert.”
Precedent was set. In Robertson v. Salomon, Justice Bradley clarified the status of cucumbers, squash, peas, and beans as vegetables, too.
The state of New Jersey recalled Nix when the Legislature claimed the tomato as the official state vegetable.
Henry J. Heinz bottled and began selling his Heinz Tomato Ketchup in 1870. By 1876, it was widely available, and not long after that, his ketchup went international, to London.
The public is still divided, though.
In short, tomatoes can be fruits or vegetables, it depends. Botanically, since tomatoes have seeds and develop from the plant’s flower, they are fruits. But in the culinary world, ask any chef worth their salt, and they’ll tell you a tomato is savory. It’s a vegetable.
Instead of a “book review,” I’ll leave you with a poem. I think it’s relevant to today.
The World is too Much With Us
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. -—Great God! I’d rather be
A pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
first published 1807
This poem is in the public domain
Be curious! (and whether fruit or vegetable, it’s tomato season. Enjoy!)
from Nate the Great and the Missing Tomatoes
by Andrew Sharmat
illustrated by Olga and Aleksey Ivanov
Delacorte Press/Penguin Random House, 2022
I know. It’s been June for over a week, and I accidentally called up "This Day in History" for May 10, not June 10.
So, while June 9 (yesterday) was my 10th blogiversary, the tomato research was well on its way, so here goes.
Even though today.com says the tomato debate is as old as time, it probably only dates back about 7,000 years! when wild tomatoes that thrived in ancient Peru were domesticated. The Incas had cultivated and were cooking tomato dishes by the 1400s.
Soon after, the conquistadors discovered tomatoes’ yummy versatility. They brought tomatoes back to Europe, and by the mid 1500s, tomatoes were used in recipes from England and Spain to France and Italy. When the British and others came to America to colonize the land, they brought tomatoes back to the “New World.” By the mid 1800s, through that circuitous route, the tomato was accepted into American cuisine.
On the national scene, James A. Garfield was elected president in 1880 on a promise, among others, to reform the Civil Service. He was assassinated in 1881, and Chester A. Arthur, after serving only six months as Vice President, rose to the presidency. He inherited daunting tasks, notably Civil Service reform, which had only just begun.
But he is best remembered for his tariff policy.
The Tariff of 1883, which Arthur supported, tried to walk the fine line between reducing the rates established by earlier legislation and protecting key industries. Yes, it’s complicated.
The 1880s saw the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Tariffs were tools of economic policy that raised significant revenue in the time before Income Tax was collected. It also influenced domestic industries and international trade relations.
The North wanted protective tariffs to favor American industries over imported goods, while the South, still dependent on agriculture and exports, opposed those same tariffs on imported goods. The debate over tariffs was not just about economics; it was a reflection of the competing interests of different regions and their visions for America's future.
Still trying to balance the needs of industrialists with those of consumers, Arthur often found himself looking for common ground between many factions of a quickly changing American society.
In 1882, he appointed the Tariff Commission and tasked them with investigating and recommending changes to tariff law based on a systematic approach.
So what about tomatoes?
The Tariff Act of 1883 required a tax to be paid on imported vegetables, but not fruit.
About ten years later, the Supreme Court took a case based on a suit filed by John Nix & Co. against the Collector of the Port of New York, Edward L. Hedden. Nix was looking to recover back duties paid under protest. He said tomatoes are fruits, not vegetables, and he should not have had to pay the tax (tariff).
Definitions from several different dictionaries were entered into evidence on both sides. After deliberation, the Supreme Court decided tomatoes should be classified as vegetables, not fruits.
It was May 10, 1893, exactly 131 years and 11 months ago. Based on how they are used and popular perception, tomatoes should be classified under the customs regulations as a vegetable. The Court’s decision was unanimous.
Justice Horace Gray, writing the opinion for the Court, acknowledged that botanically, tomatoes are classified as a “fruit of the vine,” but are known as vegetables “because they were usually eaten as a main course instead of being eaten as a dessert.”
Precedent was set. In Robertson v. Salomon, Justice Bradley clarified the status of cucumbers, squash, peas, and beans as vegetables, too.
The state of New Jersey recalled Nix when the Legislature claimed the tomato as the official state vegetable.
Henry J. Heinz bottled and began selling his Heinz Tomato Ketchup in 1870. By 1876, it was widely available, and not long after that, his ketchup went international, to London.
The public is still divided, though.
In short, tomatoes can be fruits or vegetables, it depends. Botanically, since tomatoes have seeds and develop from the plant’s flower, they are fruits. But in the culinary world, ask any chef worth their salt, and they’ll tell you a tomato is savory. It’s a vegetable.
Instead of a “book review,” I’ll leave you with a poem. I think it’s relevant to today.
The World is too Much With Us
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. -—Great God! I’d rather be
A pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
first published 1807
This poem is in the public domain
Be curious! (and whether fruit or vegetable, it’s tomato season. Enjoy!)
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