Truth, Justice and Luscious Tomatoes

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for efficiency… direct deposit, instant gratification, online shopping, multivitamins, shortcuts, carpool lanes, email (and hell yeah! electronic publishing), are all my dear friends.

However, there are times when patience, effort and a “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well” attitude are not only appropriate, and ethically virtuous, but -- dare I say it? -- better.

Take tomatoes, for instance. I’ve not yet met the efficient tomato that’s been delicious. Edible, yes, but there are those who claim those low-carb bars and dissolving Styrofoam packing peanuts are technically edible, too. Where’s the joy in that?

Fruit as a food genre is best for you, your palate, small farms and the environment when it’s local and in-season. The fact of the matter is: the fresh tomatoes are not ready yet. Therefore, a responsible, logical adult tomato consumer, you should arrange your meals around canned tomatoes and other fruits.

Yes, you can play the part of Veruca Salt by balling up your little fists and screaming, “But I want it now, Daddy!” And daddy can drop some cash and get you tomatoes from some distant land where it is summer. But is it the right way to behave? And, perhaps just as important, do they taste good?

Slow Food is a worldwide legion of concerned mouths dedicated to preserving the flavor in your foods, and promoting food production with less emphasis on pesticides, long-distance shipping and wicked short-term, gain-based efficiency. Multilingual millions defending “artisanal” production methods, endangered animal species and old-school recipes... now that's just plain cool.

I don't know about you, but I'll wave a flag for any army that wants to crusade for tangy, mouthwatering, garden-quality tomatoes.