Roots and Limbs
Tomatoes: it is sometimes shocking to remember that their ubiquitous presence in global cuisine is a purely modern phenomenon. Italy without red sauce on pasta? Dante never dined on ragù Bolognese when composing The Divine Comedy. It’s almost inconceivable, so deeply is the plant tied to the culture. The tomato thus serves as a gateway to deep histories, ones which explore the use of plants as the product of trade often conducted with violence. And while looking at such strange truths, one might also wonder: What would the world have looked like if the tomato never left the Americas?
[Botanical manuscript of 450 watercolors of flowers and plants], ca. 1740. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library, Washington, DC. Harvard University. Image cropped.
Staff
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