ven-a-comer-e-book-en_1

sea and
desert
Tomato and serrano
chile salsa made in a
grinding bowl.
Colorful tomato
varieties.
Tortilla soup is
seasoned with
tomatoes and pasilla
chiles.
Cherry-tomato salad.
Its beauty could not be overlooked by Mexican artists, especially painters
such as Hermenegildo Bustos, Agustín Arrieta, or Manuel González Serrano. In
their still lifes the tomato is the centerpiece that radiates everything surrounding
it: an Eden of color that always seems to be red hot. And in Mexican popular
culture, its roundness predominates as a recurrent motif in the decoration of
vases, bark paper, and folk art, as well as in songs and riddles.
This Solanaceae (nightshade) is one of Mexico’s gifts to world biodiversity. Its
fleshy presence has played a decisive role in and beyond the hearth worldwide,
for it is known in French as pomme d’amour (apple of love); in Italian as
pomodoro (apple of gold); and in German as Paradeisapfel (apple of paradise).
Although this plant is said to originally have come from South America, its
domestication is proudly and indisputably rooted in Mexico.
So it was born here, as part of us, and as centuries of civilization have
transpired, its color and flavor grace not only the most diverse of tables, but have
also been captured for all time in art.
A starting point, as a vegetable born and raised on Mexican lands, it has
remained faithful to fulfilling its role with the maxim of the eternal return.
The twentieth century saw it converted for universal delight into Andy
Warhol’s iconic picture in the disguise of tomato soup and in Pablo Neruda’s
magnificent poem “Ode to Tomatoes” to mention only a pair of luminous
examples as proof.
Of course the marvel of seeing it sprout first as a plant and shortly after with
its spectacular luxuriance requires a conjunction of natural and climatic factors,
where the hand of man and woman has been and is still decisive. Thus, the plant
can grow from the soil and reach 1 to 3 meters, and at times even more with full
verdure, flagrant blooming, balanced branches, and oval-shaped leaves.
And don’t believe that its beauty and characteristic circumference abides
by and obeys a common geometry, for example that of the classic beefsteak
tomato. Instead it is reborn in the plurality of the tomato varieties primarily
known as cherry, saladette, pear, Marmande, Vemone, pometa tardío, San
Marzano, and cocktail tomatoes. Its tonalities offer a stamp of distinction, so
some look greenish, orange, yellowish, pinkish, or whitish.
Their varieties can be long, kidney-shaped, or round without ever betraying
their own accentuated identity in the area of taste. Similarly, if it were a matter
of their size, they would resemble a planetary system, from the tiny cherry
tomato (1 to 2 cm) to the beef heart tomato (more than 10 cm), although their
standard dimension is from 5 to 6 cm in diameter. As for its weight, the typical
beefsteak tomato can range from a few grams to more than a kilo, although
generally speaking it varies from 200 to 300 grams.
A vegetable sun, it preferentially seeks warm temperate climates;
although when we see it grow throughout the length and breadth of
Mexico’s territory, it would seem to be on a mission to fulfill a conviction to
the republic. And in this orbit, the region of the country where it seems to
multiply day by day is precisely the lands of northwestern Mexico, mainly
Sinaloa and Baja California, although it grows at many other latitudes
and even nests in milpas (the miltomate or green tomato), that survive in
recondite corners of the nation, always assuming the dominion of its fate:
to nourish, delight, embellish, and heal . . . And it earns high merit among
our productive assets and at different moments occupies privileged spots
on the horizon of exports, for it is also industrialized as purée, paste, and in
other forms.
All in all, this magic fruit that arose in our Mexican paradise has endured as a
source of youth and happiness.
Indeed, the tomato is a miraculous vegetable that dwells so deeply within us
that it symbolizes a Mexican heart vibrantly present in the constellation of flavors
and fully appreciated by each of our senses. ▲
6.7
kilos of tomatoes
consumed annually
per person.
n
58 — Ven a Comer sea and deserT — 59