Friday, December 08, 2017

The Invention of the Cherry Tomato

For a long time, I have accepted the widely publicized "fact" that Israeli scientists invented the cherry tomato. In today's Ha'aretz newspaper from Israel I read that I've been misled. The Israelis didn't invent the cherry tomato -- it's been around for centuries. Claims about its Israeli origin were amplified for propaganda reasons. The bottom line:
"The truth is that Israeli researchers developed modern varieties of the cherry tomato, which has become a commercial product found all over the world, mainly thanks to its long shelf life. Until the 1980s miniature tomatoes were a marginal crop used in dishes mainly as decoration."
Here are links to articles that explain what's real and how the exaggerated claim was propagated:
Caesar salad at an Israeli restaurant: with cherry tomatoes.
I was interested to read these two articles putting things in perspective, and exploring the topic of Israeli self-promotion.

1 comment:

  1. Interesting. I do love cherry (and grape) tomatoes.

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