[MR] Food question

[Dave Montuori]

Respondit Gorm ad Miriel:
>> Are tomatoes (any form/fashion) native to Italy, and when were they
>> noticed (not necessarily used in recipes, just 'oh look that looks like
>> Nightshade, don't eat it...' kinda thing)
> 
> The whole nightshade/deadly thing was primarily a northern european
> association.

As I recall, one of the first documented attempts to serve tomato-related 
stuff in England was someone putting the leaves in a salad. As anyone who 
has ever eaten a tomato leaf (even by accident) can tell you, that did Not 
Go Over Well....

Potatoes (also nightshade family) caught on more quickly in nothern Europe 
due to their superficial similarity to existing root vegetables such as 
turnips. (With warnings about never eating the greens, though.) Tomatoes 
took a long time to catch on in the English-speaking world; in early 19th 
century New Jersey, Robert Gibbons Johnson once ate several tomatoes on 
the courthouse steps in Salem to prove they weren't poisonous. (He wanted 
to grow and sell them.)

Evan