29 ms·

> A lot of food is like that. I swear people in America have never tasted a real, juicy, succulent tomato. I know why we distribute our tomatoes the way we do,

by jimmy1 8y ago

> A lot of food is like that. I swear people in America have never tasted a real, juicy, succulent tomato. I know why we distribute our tomatoes the way we do, but we should stop, because they are shit. It's always these tasteless, bland red things I don't even bother to call a tomato. Every time I go to Europe, it's weird, but one of the things i absolutely crave is real tomatoes.

crazygringo 8y ago
Huh? Anybody in America who grows tomatoes in their garden or who goes to a farmer's market where local tomatoes are in season has. True that supermarkets don't carry them, but if you want one and live somewhere where they're grown, it's not too hard. Also, supermarket cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes tend to be pretty good, at least compared to the larger ones. Sure they're not the same as fresh from the garden, but they're still hugely more flavorful.
- sametmax 8y ago
  > Also, supermarket cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes tend to be pretty good, at least compared to the larger ones. Sure they're not the same as fresh from the garden, but they're still hugely more flavorful. That's what tells me the parent is right. Those are not _bad_, but they can't be considered as very good products, I swear. Sometime I wish I could just send gift tomatoes by email to random people.
  - jimmy1 8y ago
    Please send them to me. My "farmers markets" here are just selling the same boxes of produce the grocery store gets.
- sametmax 8y ago
  I wish, your vocabulary tells me that's not it. A tomato should not be "pretty good". It should be able to stand as the main course by taste alone. The thing is, even in farmer's market, 9 times out of 10, the tomatoes suck. People don't believe it. I have this debate everytime, and get the same answers everytime. The only way to end the debate is over diner, preferably in the south of france or in italia, during summer.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > Anybody in America who grows tomatoes in their garden or who goes to a farmer's market where local tomatoes are in season has. The commercial varieties are also quite popular for home growing and in farmer's markets. They are still often better quality than supermarket tomatoes, but they address expectations (including of appearance) shaped by them. Really good heirloom tomato varieties are widely available, but plenty of people have never had them anyway.
nate_meurer 8y ago
Store-bought tomatoes are often flavorless and pithy to my taste, but good tomatoes are easy to get here. All you have to do is grow your own, which a lot of us do. I've grown cherry tomatoes that taste like, well... cherries. Actual little tart sweet berries that I dry out and eat like raisins. I've never had anything like it in a store or restaurant.
- sametmax 8y ago
  I would not call growing "easy" :)
  - rangibaby 8y ago
    I guess it depends on where you live but in Japan tomatoes are considered a “noob” crop because they are so easy to grow
    - sametmax 8y ago
      And Python is an easy language. That doesn't mean you are going to produce a good script.
  - nate_meurer 8y ago
    I'm in Colorado, and tomatoes grow like weeds here. I've had so many volunteer plants from fallen berries that I almost wouldn't have to replant. In my meager experience, soil is the most important variable. I've grown huge bumper crops one year, and then the next year only spindly pathetic vines with berries that refuse to ripen. I assume it's soil exhaustion, because compost or fertilizer fix it. Edit: I do have to water. If I don't water then the volunteers die, so "like weeds" isn't totally accurate. But not too far off either.
    - sametmax 8y ago
      > In my meager experience, soil is the most important variable It may very well be the reason most vegetables taste like crap today: we keep exhausting all the soils.
astura 8y ago
No, pretty much every American (in the Northeast at least) has had "real" tomatoes. Pretty much everyone with more than a couple inches of soil grows them (even people who otherwise don't garden) and the people who don't have a couple inches of soil get them from the people who do. Hell, even my greatgrandma grew them when she was alive (someone must have planted them for her...) They are also readily available from farmers markets and even the grocery store when they are in season. >but we should stop, because they are shit There's obviously a market for them, no matter how much purists might whine. While nothing beats the "real thing" in certain applications where tomato is the star, the gas-ripened ones are just fine (and even preferable) for most applications (like on a burger, where tomato isn't the star of the show).
- sametmax 8y ago
  I'm pretty sure that no. I mean, in France, we have way better average tomatoes, and a greater culture of the farmer market. Food in general actually. Yet, I still find many people that have no idea what it's supposed to taste like. Because you can only buy that taste great during a small part of the year, and only at some vendors. Still this is plenty, but compared to the avalanche of products that are good enough, and marketted as incredible despite being far from the real thing, it's a small %. Now here is the kicker, a lot of people growing the tomatoes in their garden will not have great ones either. They will have pretty good ones. But they often don't have the soil, the insects, the sun or the seed to get the result. It's not incompetence, mind you, or ignorance, or stupidity. It's just that those things are getting rarer and rarer. > There's obviously a market for them, no matter how much purists might whine. It's not whining, and it's not being a purist. It's a public health issue. Having vegetable that taste better than junk food is an asset to make people eat healthier. Being "good enough" doesn't work.
  - hombre_fatal 8y ago
    > Yet, I still find many people that have no idea what it's supposed to taste like. Honestly, if I was having dinner with someone who waxed on and on about how I haven't had Real Tomatoes and they were super enthusiastic that I try these tomatoes and those tomatoes and "don't you see what you've been missing?!" -- I'd probably say "oh, yes, wow, how crazy" to humor the hill they want to die on.
nicoburns 8y ago
I feel the same coming from the UK. Tomatoes in France or Italy are like a whole different fruit/vegetable compared to what we (commonly) get here.
dpark 8y ago
Living in Germany for a semester taught me to appreciate American produce because everything in Germany was tasteless. I didn’t even like tomatoes when I went to Germany and came back craving them because I’d been eating flavorless red chunks on salads for months.
mturmon 8y ago
Your first sentence, of course, is not true, but I agree with the rest. Backyard gardeners all over the US grow tomatoes. And some areas close where they are farmed have really good market or farmers-market tomatoes. The good ones just don't transport well. Same for other fragile fruits like raspberries and strawberries. Alas, just because it says "strawberry" on the package doesn't mean it has any resemblance to the real thing.
- sametmax 8y ago
  > The good ones just don't transport well It's a very important thing, yes. People in the city are at a serious disadvantage.
darkpuma 8y ago
Adding to this, when I come to power the "red delicious" apple is going to be outlawed and anybody caught selling them will be put on trial for crimes against fruit.

by jimmy1 8y ago

crazygringo 8y ago

Huh? Anybody in America who grows tomatoes in their garden or who goes to a farmer's market where local tomatoes are in season has. True that supermarkets don't carry them, but if you want one and live somewhere where they're grown, it's not too hard. Also, supermarket cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes tend to be pretty good, at least compared to the larger ones. Sure they're not the same as fresh from the garden, but they're still hugely more flavorful.

sametmax 8y ago
> Also, supermarket cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes tend to be pretty good, at least compared to the larger ones. Sure they're not the same as fresh from the garden, but they're still hugely more flavorful. That's what tells me the parent is right. Those are not _bad_, but they can't be considered as very good products, I swear. Sometime I wish I could just send gift tomatoes by email to random people.
- jimmy1 8y ago
  Please send them to me. My "farmers markets" here are just selling the same boxes of produce the grocery store gets.
sametmax 8y ago
I wish, your vocabulary tells me that's not it. A tomato should not be "pretty good". It should be able to stand as the main course by taste alone. The thing is, even in farmer's market, 9 times out of 10, the tomatoes suck. People don't believe it. I have this debate everytime, and get the same answers everytime. The only way to end the debate is over diner, preferably in the south of france or in italia, during summer.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> Anybody in America who grows tomatoes in their garden or who goes to a farmer's market where local tomatoes are in season has. The commercial varieties are also quite popular for home growing and in farmer's markets. They are still often better quality than supermarket tomatoes, but they address expectations (including of appearance) shaped by them. Really good heirloom tomato varieties are widely available, but plenty of people have never had them anyway.

nate_meurer 8y ago

Store-bought tomatoes are often flavorless and pithy to my taste, but good tomatoes are easy to get here. All you have to do is grow your own, which a lot of us do. I've grown cherry tomatoes that taste like, well... cherries. Actual little tart sweet berries that I dry out and eat like raisins. I've never had anything like it in a store or restaurant.

sametmax 8y ago
I would not call growing "easy" :)
- rangibaby 8y ago
  I guess it depends on where you live but in Japan tomatoes are considered a “noob” crop because they are so easy to grow
  - sametmax 8y ago
    And Python is an easy language. That doesn't mean you are going to produce a good script.
- nate_meurer 8y ago
  I'm in Colorado, and tomatoes grow like weeds here. I've had so many volunteer plants from fallen berries that I almost wouldn't have to replant. In my meager experience, soil is the most important variable. I've grown huge bumper crops one year, and then the next year only spindly pathetic vines with berries that refuse to ripen. I assume it's soil exhaustion, because compost or fertilizer fix it. Edit: I do have to water. If I don't water then the volunteers die, so "like weeds" isn't totally accurate. But not too far off either.
  - sametmax 8y ago
    > In my meager experience, soil is the most important variable It may very well be the reason most vegetables taste like crap today: we keep exhausting all the soils.

astura 8y ago

No, pretty much every American (in the Northeast at least) has had "real" tomatoes. Pretty much everyone with more than a couple inches of soil grows them (even people who otherwise don't garden) and the people who don't have a couple inches of soil get them from the people who do. Hell, even my greatgrandma grew them when she was alive (someone must have planted them for her...) They are also readily available from farmers markets and even the grocery store when they are in season. >but we should stop, because they are shit There's obviously a market for them, no matter how much purists might whine. While nothing beats the "real thing" in certain applications where tomato is the star, the gas-ripened ones are just fine (and even preferable) for most applications (like on a burger, where tomato isn't the star of the show).

sametmax 8y ago
I'm pretty sure that no. I mean, in France, we have way better average tomatoes, and a greater culture of the farmer market. Food in general actually. Yet, I still find many people that have no idea what it's supposed to taste like. Because you can only buy that taste great during a small part of the year, and only at some vendors. Still this is plenty, but compared to the avalanche of products that are good enough, and marketted as incredible despite being far from the real thing, it's a small %. Now here is the kicker, a lot of people growing the tomatoes in their garden will not have great ones either. They will have pretty good ones. But they often don't have the soil, the insects, the sun or the seed to get the result. It's not incompetence, mind you, or ignorance, or stupidity. It's just that those things are getting rarer and rarer. > There's obviously a market for them, no matter how much purists might whine. It's not whining, and it's not being a purist. It's a public health issue. Having vegetable that taste better than junk food is an asset to make people eat healthier. Being "good enough" doesn't work.
- hombre_fatal 8y ago
  > Yet, I still find many people that have no idea what it's supposed to taste like. Honestly, if I was having dinner with someone who waxed on and on about how I haven't had Real Tomatoes and they were super enthusiastic that I try these tomatoes and those tomatoes and "don't you see what you've been missing?!" -- I'd probably say "oh, yes, wow, how crazy" to humor the hill they want to die on.

nicoburns 8y ago

I feel the same coming from the UK. Tomatoes in France or Italy are like a whole different fruit/vegetable compared to what we (commonly) get here.

dpark 8y ago

Living in Germany for a semester taught me to appreciate American produce because everything in Germany was tasteless. I didn’t even like tomatoes when I went to Germany and came back craving them because I’d been eating flavorless red chunks on salads for months.

mturmon 8y ago

Your first sentence, of course, is not true, but I agree with the rest. Backyard gardeners all over the US grow tomatoes. And some areas close where they are farmed have really good market or farmers-market tomatoes. The good ones just don't transport well. Same for other fragile fruits like raspberries and strawberries. Alas, just because it says "strawberry" on the package doesn't mean it has any resemblance to the real thing.

sametmax 8y ago
> The good ones just don't transport well It's a very important thing, yes. People in the city are at a serious disadvantage.

darkpuma 8y ago

Adding to this, when I come to power the "red delicious" apple is going to be outlawed and anybody caught selling them will be put on trial for crimes against fruit.