Primarily Speaking

Long before they appeared on hamburgers across the country, the tomato actually had quite a naughty history—or one that was perceived as naughty, anyway. The tomato was initially shown to European colonists in the 1500s by the long-established Aztec civilization in Mexico–it was originally called “Xitomatl” in the native Aztec language of Nahuatl–but because the color red was associated with hedonism and sexuality in Europe at the time, people were hesitant to get too close. They were also concerned it was an aphrodisiac whose purposes would have been strictly condemned by the Catholic Church unless used explicitly for conception.

The tomato’s bad reputation continued this way for centuries, until it then extended into murder. Because tomatoes are acidic, and many plates of royalty were made from lead-heavy pewter, the combination created lead poisoning for many who ate tomatoes off of these plates, National Geographicshared. The tomato had been framed as a “poison apple,” but this reputation changed in part because, as Italian immigrants moved westward in the 19th century, they were among those who brought tomatoes with them as a beloved ingredient. This love later extended across ethnicities and across the U.S., and in particular to a college in New Jersey.