In sauce, in salads, on sandwiches, America loves the tomato.
But it wasn't always so. Cultivated as early as 700 A.D. by Indian peoples in Central America, the red fruit found favor in Mediterranean Europe after Spanish conquistadors were introduced to it in the 16th century. But the British, fearing it was poisonous, refused to consider it a food, says the California Tomato Commission.
As a result, the tomato didn't catch on in America until after the War of 1812.
So, today's poison just may be tomorrow's main course.
