fact
From the 1500’s – 1800’s tomatoes were usually only consumed by the poor because they were considered poisonous to the rich. The high lead content of pewter silverware and plates would leech into high acidic foods when eaten causing poisoning and death. 00
Europeans feared eating tomatoes for 200 years, because when wealthy Europeans using pewter plates, high in lead content, ate tomatoes off the plates, the high acidity in tomatoes would cause the fruit to leach lead from the plate, resulting in many deaths from lead poisoning. 00
Italy didn’t have tomatoes until 1548, which is why traditional Italian food doesn’t use tomatoes. 00
A bill was introduced in Maine to outlaw tomatoes in clam chowder.
According to legend, everyone in America used to think tomatoes were poisonous, due to them being a member of the nightshade family. In 1820, New Jersey resident Robert Gibbon Johnson ate tomatoes in front of a large crowd to prove they were edible.