Attack of the Killer Tomato Prices
November 1, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/01/opinion/01mon3.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position
It's not exactly the potato blight, but fresh tomatoes are suddenly in
short supply. Blame hurricanes in Florida, heavy rains in California and
even a crop-eating bug in Mexico. The vegetable (before writing to tell
us it's a fruit, please read on) can be found at the supermarket, but
for as much as $3 a pound. Elsewhere, it may go missing entirely.
Fast food restaurants, especially those that boast of fresh ingredients,
are in a pickle. Rather than take a chance that it could not deliver,
Wendy's recently canceled an ad featuring a tomato slice on a chicken
sandwich. Other quick meal outlets plan to post notices that say, in
effect, no, you cannot have it your way. In one of New York's authentic
Mexican restaurants, Zarela, the chips and fresh salsa - complimentary
at the bar and before meals - are still there. But the owner, Zarela
Martinez, says this price crisis is the worst since the great beef
fajita meat inflation of last year. Some Italian restaurants are
substituting canned tomatoes or changing recipes until the shortage lets
up.
It is an interesting dilemma. Tomatoes were once shunned in this
country. Benjamin Franklin called them unsafe, perhaps believing they
contributed to his gout. In parts of Europe, tomatoes were considered an
aphrodisiac. To this day, they are misunderstood. While purists are
correct that the tomato is a fruit, the Supreme Court in the late 19th
century ruled it a vegetable, which infamously did not escape the Reagan
administration when it briefly extended that label to ketchup in school
lunches.
Today, armed with evidence of the great health benefits from nutrients
like lycopene, Americans eat an average of 90 pounds of tomatoes a year,
about one-fifth of them fresh. Having to weather this shortage, many of
them, we suspect, will consider growing their own garden variety next
year.
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