David First, Red menace; How the ‘strange and horrible’ tomato conquered
Italy, and America. Boston Globe, Aug. 15, 2010.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/08/15/red_menace/
Note:
(a) tomato
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato
(from Peru; world's top producer in 2008: China>US> Turkey>India>Italy)
*varieties of tomato mentioned in the Boston Globe article:
beefsteak
heirloom ("The definition of an heirloom tomato is vague, but unlike
commercial hybrids, all are self-pollinators")
Sungold
Roma
San Marzano
, all of which the Wikipedia page for "tomato" provides a direct link,
except:
* Sungold was created by Japanese seed company トキタ種苗 Tokita Seed Co.,
Ltd.
http://www.tokitaseed.co.jp/eng/index.htm
* San Marzano tomato
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marzano_tomato
("The story goes that the first seed of the San Marzano tomato came to
Campania in 1770, as a gift from the Kingdom of Peru to the Kingdom of
Naples, and that it was planted in the area that corresponds to the present
commune of San Marzano")
(c) gazpacho
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazpacho
(d) North End is a neighborhood in City of Boston, where Italian Americans
live and have stores.
(e) The noun "pomodoro" is Italian for "tomato."
(f) Maya civilization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization
(2,600 BC(?) -900 AD)
(g) Aztec
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec
(In 1521, Spaniard Hernán Cortés defeated Aztec)
(h) Padua
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padua
(a city in northern Italy)
(i) For "Sunday gravy," see Tomato sauce
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_sauce
("Some Italian Americans on the East Coast refer to tomato sauce as 'gravy',
'tomato gravy', or 'Sunday gravy', especially sauces with a large quantity
of meat simmered in them, similar to the Italian Neapolitan ragù. 'Gravy'
is an erroneous English translation from the Italian sugo which means juice,
but can also mean sauce (as in sugo per pastasciutta). The expression for '
gravy' in Italian is sugo dell'arrosto, which is literally 'juice of a roast
' and is specifically not tomato sauce")
--