Time to Plant Tomatoes
From The Tomato in America: Early History, Culture, and Cookery, by Andrew F. Smith: On Sunday, January 30, 1949, CBS broadcast live over national radio a reenactment of Robert Gibbon Johnson eating the first tomato in America. This episode of the You Are There series depicted an event purportedly held in September 1820 in Salem, New Jersey. According to the CBS broadcast, prior to this date Americans considered the tomato poisonous. Johnson, one of Salem's most prominent citizens, had imported tomato seeds from South America and planted them in his garden. When they produced fruit-bearing vines, he announced that he intended to eat a tomato on the courthouse steps. From hundreds of miles around, spectators traveled to view the sensation.
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On the appointed day, as the CBS version had it, hundreds of onlookers gathered to see the spectacle of Johnson eating a tomato, expecting him to fall frothing to the ground, then die a painful death.
Presented for your delectation by the Gentleman Farmer at 6:12 PM
Comments on "Time to Plant Tomatoes"
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Anonymous said ... (7:04 PM) :
post a commentAre you sure that's "O - E - S?"
Have you ever looked at a map showing the annual per capita tomato consumption in the United Stated based on county? Have you compared it to the results of a presidential election based on a precinct map?
YAY!