Tomatoes

[Hawkmoon]

A good many years ago I read a novel that was set in the period when American clipper ships sailed the oceans of the world, trading anywhere they could find goods to buy, sell, or transport. The book suggested that Americans in that era considered tomatoes to be poisonous, and it wasn't until the clippers saw the Chinese eating tomatoes that Americans realized they could be eaten.

Has anyone encountered information to support or to refute this notion? Just curious.

[zxcvbob]

I have heard that Americans thought tomatoes were poisonous (but some people grew them anyway as an ornamental)  But I thought they were a New World native, so how did the Chinese get them?

[charby]

Tomatoes are new World

https://www.tomato-cages.com/tomato-history.html

[French G.]

https://www.monticello.org/site/blog-and-community/4-foods-jefferson-helped-popularize-america

When he wasn't banging the help TJ liked tomatoes.

[Hawkmoon]

Looks like they were originally native to South America, but they made it to China before the heyday of the clipper ships:

https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/noodles/2018/07/03/history-of-the-tomato-in-italy-and-china-tracing-the-role-of-tomatoes-in-italian-and-chinese-cooking/

And the explanation for why early Americans (and English) thought they were poisonous was ... pewter tableware. The acid in the tomatoes cause lead to leach out of the tableware, resulting in lead poisoning.