The Introduction of Tomatoes
The Columbian Exchange is referred
to as a method or movement of ideas, food, crops, and population between the
New World and the Old World. This movement brought vast amount of new crops and
food from the New World to the Old Word and vice versa. New crops such as
potatoes, sweet potatoes, maize, cassava, capsicum peppers, tomatoes, cacao,
vanilla, and tobacco was brought into the Old World by the New World. Not only
food and crops were brought in but deadly viruses and bacteria were exchanged
as well. Nunn Nathan and Qian Nancy elaborates on the different food products
and crops that were exchanged and gave details on how these products were used.
Tomatoes, for example, were first originated in South America and was later
brought into European society in the 16th century and later appeared
in an Italian cookbook in the 17th century. Nathan and Nancy notes that tomatoes “became
a global food” (172) and notes that Italy ranks number 6 on the list of the
most tomatoes consume per capita.
However, that was not always the case,
as tomatoes were previously perceived as a health risk. Tomatoes began to show
up in Italian’s diet and dishes in the mid-seventeenth century when medical
shifted away from the dominant Galenic ideology where tomato was thought to
interfere with digestion (David 47).
However, this changed and tomatoes are now believed to aid digestion by
breaking down food easier and faster.
After this shift, more and more chefs began to use tomatoes in their
dishes and recipes whether it is used as an ingredients, condiments, or even
seasoning. By the mid-18th century tomatoes were widely used and
were “adapted into Italian culture, blended with local ingredients and culinary
technique” (David 56).
For example, Italian pizza was originally flat,
white disc with simply just oil but with the introduction of tomatoes, pizza
became richer and more complicated (Serao 1).
Pizza with tomatoes soon became abundantly popular in Italy and other
types of pizza such as pizza with mozzarella, oil, anchovies, oregano, and
garlic soon became popular as well. Before coming abroad to Turkey and Italy,
tomatoes were rarely included in my diet as I was neither a fan of the texture
nor the taste of it. However, that began to change as I began to live in
Istanbul and Florence and visited many other Mediterranean countries and cities
that uses tomatoes in nearly all the dishes or meals that I have ordered at
restaurants. For example, majority of the pasta dishes would contain some sort
of tomato sauce. When I visited Pisa, I ordered a dish called Spaghetti with
Seafood and the sauce that was used was tomato based. Similarly, in Rome, I
ordered Gnocchi with meatball Ragu and the sauce was based on tomatoes. Not
only the pasta used tomato sauce, but also majority of the pizza I have eaten
in Florence and Rome obtained tomato sauce as well. Additionally, any types of salads
I would order would also obtain raw slices of tomatoes on top of the lettuce as
well. I have noticed that my taste palate for tomatoes is slowly changing, as I
have been living and visiting countries that greatly uses tomatoes. Although
tomatoes are very popular in Italian dishes, other herbs, fruits and plants
such as Asparagus, Hops, and Spinach are incorporated in the Italian dishes and
recipes as well (Castelvetro 2012).
As stated earlier, I have never
bought tomatoes for my meals back in the States, however, that began to change
as I recently bought cherry tomatoes to use them in my salads and pasta.
Before, my salads would only consist of spinach, cucumbers, and lettuce but now
I began to add small portions of cherry tomatoes that are cut in half on top of
the salad. These cherry tomatoes I bought were bright red and oval shaped. They
have a smooth exterior and really juicy interior that when cut in half, tomato
juice would squirt onto the cutting board. Additionally, the tastes of these
cherry tomatoes are much sweeter and juicier than other larger tomatoes as
well. Furthermore, tomatoes were not only widely used in Italian dishes but are
also in Turkey’s dishes as well. Because of this, I have slowly begun to
incorporate tomatoes into my diet and cooking as well.
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