“tunatoes” and “Store Wars”
i had one of the best tomatoes i’ve ever had a couple weeks ago in Berlin. it wasn’t some kind of super-tomato, just the average store bought tomato in Germany. but i swear i haven’t tasted a tomato so lush and flavorful since i was a kid and we got our produce from my grandfather’s garden in North Carolina. it was eyes rolling back in the head kind of good! after i came down from the high i got pissed off, cause i realized i haven’t been eating real tomatoes for years. i’ve been eating grocery store, genetically modified, low quality tomato imitators. i couldn’t believe i had been tricked for all these years.
in addition to the tomatoes, i noticed a lot of things taste better over there. all the produce is fresher and more flavorful, the dairy products are creamier and the chocolate is more chocolatey. i don’t eat meat but i would bet that the meat is meatier too. i had an epiphany that day. Americans demand low prices and quantity but we don’t demand quality. we don’t stand up against the use of hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, and genetically modified food as long as we get the bang for the buck we’re looking for. my German friends were disgusted at the way American chickens and cows and such are pumped full of hormones and antibiotics to get them to grow bigger and fatter. regulations on food production are much tighter over there because the people demand quality and healthful means of food production. they realize that if food is produced in an unhealthy way it will be less healthy for us humans to eat. (and probably less tasty too) why can’t we get that simple concept over here?
one of my American friends who’s into eating organic stuff said that these days tomatoes are being genetically modified with genes from a kind of tuna fish that can survive in super cold waters. scientists somehow isolated the gene in that tuna that protects it from the cold and implanted it in tomatoes so they can survive frosts. in theory that’s an interesting idea but who the heck wants to eat “tunatoes”?!!! ugh.
when i got home to LA i looked up the local farmers market and it turns out there’s one right in my hood every sunday year round! so last sunday morning i went hunting and gathering and got all my produce for the week from local farmers who for the most part grow their crops organically or at least pesticide free. sure enough, the tomatoes i bought from the self proclaimed “Tomato Man” were amazing, good enough to eat like an apple.
i’m going to get off my soapbox in about 8 seconds but i urge you to check out the options out there and demand quality by using your dollar to buy the good stuff instead of the cheap stuff. its better for you and for the environment. and btw, i spent about the same at the farmers market as i would have at my local grocery so it’s not necessarily more expensive to eat the good healthy stuff.
last thing, if you’re a healthy food fan or a Star Wars fan or if you just want to learn more about all this, you have to go watch “Store Wars”…you’ll crack up!
i’m off to make a tomato sandwich!
kyler 