Tomato

Writing these bits on vegetables has me missing Mom, earth, and "home." From here, I'm saving these essays for a book I'll give my 76 year old mother after 75 more essays. Tolerate the length and offer welcome critism of each "chapter." The Tomato Chapter Four of 79 My elementary years happened near Reynoldsburg, Ohio. In 1965, the Town Council proclaimed Reynoldsburg, “Birthplace of the Commercial Tomato.” Central Ohio celebrated all things tomato every August at “The Tomato Festival.” Tomatoes have been in my mind a long time. We moved to Southeastern Ohio as I turned 13. “Home” became a drafty farmhouse, 80 acres of pasture and an acre garden bottom on Blackjack Creek. Growing up makes gardening a chore, but I learned at the labor camp. Mom stocked the freezer, root cellar, and 2000 ball jars with produce she grew. Damned maniac! I didn’t know about obsessive-compulsive disorders until college. Mom gravitated to certain crops, especially tomatoes. High acid tomatoes are canned e... Read more

I love to eat slices of these on cheeseburgers, and the "cherry" variety make standard salads wonderful.

best with a little sea salt or w/garlic or red onions & olive oil. ...or (cherry or grape) tomatoes grilled on a skewer with Vidalias or shallots.

Grape tomatoes are my fave!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Im not a huge tomato person. Only on select things like a burger or sandwich and sometimes salad. Thats about it.

they are fruits btw

not a vegtable its a fruit

I still stand firm on this, tomato belongs in the Heinz Ketchup bottle or my pasta sauce...but that's it!

eat 'em like an apple, only with a touch of salt!

theyre just good

They even have some called ugly.

Whether eaten as is, or as part of a sauce, tomatoes are great. The only exception is ketchup, which might be the biggest waste of tomatoes ever invented.

A bit acidic but a foundation to most of my favorite dishes.

YES DAMMIT IT IS A FRUIT FRUIT'S HAV SEEDS AND THIS HAS SEEDS!!!!!!

Tomato is a fruit, not a veggie but I love them

FRUIT.

I don't care for tomatoes much, but I like things like tomato sauce and tomato juice. Maybe it's just the way it's processed, I don't know. It just tastes different.

If there were no tomatoes, there would be no bloody marys.

Only because of katsup.

love to grow them, love to eat them

AKA KETCHUP; SALSA

yay for maters!

As long as they are Maryland Tomatoes, ripe and off the vine...YUM, I also like Roma tomatoes, but no mealy ones please

I'm italian so I think I'm genetically obligated to love tomatoes. I prefer on the vine tomatoes to hothouse or GMO (yick) types.

You say "Tomato", I say "Salmonella."

As a child, my father grew his own small fruit and vegetables orchard at the back of his parents'. At about age eight, learned from him to eat them slightly chilled - for consistency - sliced in half, with some pepper and a dash of salt. Did do just as he did but never came even close to being like him where growing fruit or vegetables (and in other important regards as well) is concerned.

I can't stand eating tomatoes by themselves, but I like tomato sauces.

While tasty and versatile,the Tomato is actually a FRUIT,not a vegetable.

tomatoes can go in so many dishes, they are a very versatile veggie. I do not mind them raw but like to but a bit of sugar on it if I do. so many ways to use tomatoes, in a sauce form, or diced, stewed , salads, etc.

I really only like tomato in a sauce form, such as on pizza or speghetti. I can tolerate it in some sandwiches. But I can never eat them by themselves. Gross!

I don't think they are a vegetable but because they are eaten as such they are called a vegetable. Okay. Whatever. I absolutely love these fruits. I like them raw, cooked, in sauces, soups and any other way. I've seen that the Portugues sell a jam made from tomatoes. If only they sold the jam in a smaller jar I'd buy it. I think that cream cheese, farmers cheese, queso fresco or the cheese used to accompany guayaba (forgot the name). After I try the tomato jam I might make a custard out of it if it is tasty enough.

For the poster who said tomatoes are not vegetables---vegetables don't really exist. It's a word invented for plants that are generally used in cooking. All vegetables can be broken down into parts of a plant: Leaves (lettuce, cabbage); stems (celery); fruit (tomatoes, cucumbers--anything with seeds); flower (cauliflower, broccoli); root (carrots, potatoes). End of lesson. I respect tomatoes. But I don't like them raw (or, yuck--cooked or stewed). I think they're disgusting......to quote George Carlin, they still like look they're in the embryo stage. But--three stars because tomato paste is the basis of my favorite foods (pizza, pasta dishes).

fresh tomatoes from the garden can not be beat.

I love tomatoes. Usually, I eat them with something or in a sauce, unless I have to have a vegetable/fruit before I eat dessert. Disappointed though, that Jack in the Box stopped putting tomato in their Chicken Sandwiches. I always take out the lettuce. Oh, well.

Store-bought is only good in sauces/soups the only way I will eat a fresh tomato is if it is home-grown! I absolutely hate store tomatoes. I can't wait for that first tomato sandwich! Yum

Yet another American native adopted by the world. Raw or cooked. Alone or with other vegatables and meat or pasta. Another perfect food.

Fruit or vegetable, it doen't matter because they sometimes are sweet and very good to one's health. Now, I want you to try adding sun-dried tomatoes to any dish that includes pasta or rice- they taste great.

I can't eat tomatoes or I'll throw up. So I always get burgers only with cheese. But I like ketchup. And no pizza without it!

Tomatoes were once known as love-apples. No sandwich or salad is complete without a tomato. I am particularly fond of home-grown tomatoes.

I think that Tomatoes are the most disgusting thing on the planet!!! I thought to myself one day...hmm...I haven't tried a tomato since I was a kid, maybe my taste buds have comed to realize that tomatoes are the shiznit. WRONG!!! And why is this under the VEGETABLE rating list. It is a FRUIT!!!

Tomatoes are very important in today's society. I will tell you now, however, that I never eat tomatoes on my sandwiches or in my salads for that matter- I just don't like pure tomatoes that much. But this FRUIT gets four stars for everything that it produces in our society. Ketchup (my favorite), pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, etc.

Good stuff. A salad is just not the same without the little cherry tomatoes in it, those are awesome. And, yeah, it's funny that they put this in the Vegetable category rather than the Fruit category.

tomatoes are horrible. they make me want to barf just looking at them

Depends.....tomato soup is nice, so is tomato sauce on pasta. raw tomatoes aren't too nice though.

I eat tomatoes like most people eat apples. No vegetable (isn't it technically a fruit?) begs to be eaten more than a ripe, red, juicy, garden tomato.

They are SO easy to grow! For the seeds, just throw down a few seeds from the last tomato you ate.

There are three things that every person learns in school. 1. Dolphins are mammals not fish. 2. They speak portugese in Brazil not spanish. 3. Tomatoes are a fruit not a vegitable! Sort yourself out.

What a versitile veggie (or fruit if you prefer - I can't think of it as one myself). You can do so many things with tomatoes; dice, slice, squash, mash, puree, smear them on pizza, throw them in sauce and stews, or wait until they're soft and toss them at bad actors! Most people love them and the things they do for their food. I know I do and have recently come to appreciate them for their health benefits and excellent cancer fighting properties.