Week 1 Reflection: The Transformation of the Tomato

The Columbian exchange was the trade of goods between Europe, Africa, and the Americas and had both positive and negative effects on the Old World and New World. Negatively, an exchange of diseases occurred, where the native populations of the Americas catch Old World such as smallpox, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, bubonic plague, typhus, and malaria. Ironically, quinine, the first anti-malarial drug, came from the New World. The native populations were decimated by these new viruses. The Old World also took some diseases back with them, such as

syphilis. The Columbian Exchange also caused a demand in slave labor from Africa to work on plantations for tobacco, sugar, and cotton in the New World. Millions of Africans were transported over for this cultivation.

A positive effect of the Columbian Exchange was that the “discovery” of the Americas brought many new products to Europe, such as maize, tomatoes, potatoes, cassava, and sweet potatoes.  In “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas” by Nathan Nunn and Qian Nancy, the authors mention that ”The primary benefit of the New World staples was that they could be grown in Old World climates that were unsuitable for the cultivation of Old World staples” (169). This increase productivity, nutrition and overall health, and the economy of the Old World.

I would like to specifically focus on the transition of tomatoes into the culture and foods of Italy. After being introduced into Italy via the Colombian Exchange, tomatoes were mostly used as condiments, but were not eaten often. The Gaelenic humor notions believed that tomatoes were too acidic and bad for digestion. New medical theories arose in the 18th century saying that tomatoes were actually healthy to eat. The popularity of the tomato was more evident in Southern Italy at the time because of it’s introduction by the Spaniards. By the 19th century, it’s popularity had increased, where there were many known recipes published. In “Tomato Recipes from Antonio Latini’s La Vita Di Uno Scalco,” he speaks of two doctors in Naples noted that they recommended tomatoes to be cooked twice or they would cause indigestion. The poor had not choice and ate them raw. They refer to the sustenance of the poor, pizza, and list some topping such as tomatoes, which had not yet become an important part of pizza yet.

Since being in Florence, I have eaten a lot of pizza, all with tomato sauce on top of it. I find it interesting that it was not originally there and the idea was re-imported from America. I have visited both Conad and the Mercato Centrale, where I was surprised to find that it was a little difficult to find tomatoes, possibly because it may be going out of season soon, but I expected a wide variety. I could only find one or two different types of tomatoes. I am not sure what kind of tomato I bought to taste, but it is a deeper red, still on the vie, small golf ball sized, and but shaped like an oval. When I bit into it, it was partly sweet, but not too sweet. The texture of the tomato was a little drier than I an used to. The seeds were not very juicy or present at all in the tomato and it had a little snap of when I bit into it. I cut the rest of my tomatoes up and made an omelette! I enjoyed this type of tomato, but I would like to look for a juicier one for the future.

It is interesting to see how tomatoes started out as bad for ones health and slowly transitioned into a staple food for Italy. In Florence,  all of the menus that I have seen at restaurant include many dishes with tomatoes. I believe that currently tomatoes stand out as a representative food for Italy. When foreigners think of Italy, they think of tomatoes, tomato sauce, and  the modern pizza.