SC - Poisonous Tomatoes?

[david friedman]

At 9:13 AM -0800 11/27/00, Chris Stanifer wrote:

>Okay, I'm confused.  Are we trying to determine
>whether people in the MA thought tomatoes were
>poisonous, or whether they are REALLY poisonous?


We are trying to determine whether Europeans during at least part of 
the time from the 16th through the early 19th century thought they 
were poisonous. But one reason they might have thought they were 
poisonous is if they were, so the actual characteristics of various 
sorts of tomatoes are relevant.

>Or,
>are we looking for extant proof that folks in the MA
>thought they were poisonous?  If I'm not mistaken, Dr.
>Friedman is looking for physical proof (i.e. written
>documentation) that tomatoes were generally thought to
>be poisonous during the middle ages.  I can't supply
>that, myself.

Since they don't seem to show up in Europe until the early 16th 
century, we are talking about the Renaissance, not the middle ages.

>However, with all this discussion, I
>have become very interested in learning the truth.  I
>had always been led to believe that tomatoes were
>originally thought to be poisonous due to their
>relation to the Nightshade family.  If that is
>incorrect, or at best a "wild assumption", then i
>should like to know.

My current belief is that it is incorrect. The closest I have seen to 
supporting evidence is quotes suggesting that some people thought the 
tomato was bad for you--which, given period views of nutrition, is 
entirely plausible, but would also be true of lots of other things 
that people routinely ate. And it is clear that tomatoes were being 
eaten from the sixteenth century on, at least in Italy and Spain, and 
somewhat later in England.

Lots of people nowadays think refined sugar is bad for you, but 
nobody thinks it is poisonous in the literal sense of the term.
- -- 
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/