Garden Variety

The American Tomato from Corporate to Heirloom

Bibliographic Data

ID4155528
AuthorsCindy Ott (University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume105
Issue4
Pages1045-1046
Publication date2019-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of American History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8723 • E-ISSN: 1945-2314
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/jahist/jaz094
OpenAlexW2917663796
LanguageEN
Citations received2

When many of us think about summer produce, we often think of the tomato, a meaty red beefsteak or a strangely shaped heirloom variety—a tomato that tastes like a tomato. Likewise, when we think of industrial-scale produce, we often think about the tomato. Its mealy and tasteless flesh encased in a perfectly round yet odorless orb is an affront to our senses and a symbol of all that is wrong with the modern food system. Because the tomato conjures up both the best and the worst of vegetable varieties, it facilitates a great case study of the American food landscape. In Garden Variety John Hoenig argues that American food scholars have focused too much on the bland tomato and the centralized corporate food system that produced it. They have, he writes, neglected the wholesome tomato, both fresh and canned, and the many producers and consumers who have kept American food varied and diverse. For Hoenig, the proliferation of farm stands and backyard and urban gardens, where the tomato reigns supreme, and of culinary adventures, such as gazpacho, salsa, and minimally processed whole canned tomatoes, should give us optimism

Adventure · Advertising · Art · Art history · Biology · Business · Variety (cybernetics · Berry genetics and cultivation research · Horticulture · Mathematics · Organic Food and Agriculture · Plant Physiology and Cultivation Studies

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