h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am trying to find out about myths associated with fruit.
All my searches around the net have so far been unsuccessful, does anyone have any info?

Depending on whether you define a tomato by the traditional "vegetable" label or the technical "fruit" label, and what you're looking for as myths....

At one time they were thought to be poison... Probably started by someone who bit into one thinking it was an apple.

I think the poison tomato thng is coz they are related to belladonna (nightshade).


;^)#

Well... there's that, too... But I think they were considered poisonous before botany was a really big subject... Of course... I could be wrong.

My father told me about the drive to introduce the tomato as an edible. Yes, the primary problem was the fact that it was related to "nightshade"(a highly poisonous plant).

This changes the recipies for quite a number of "old dishes". If it has tomatoes in it, the recipie came after the 1920's(in the US).

Of course, he also told me that coal was not accepted as a fuel at the time........the ability to burn rocks was tantamount to witchcraft!

NM

I'm afraid I'd have to consult Britanica on that one.

Yes, contrary to popular belief, fruit, when left in the sun for many days, does not remain fresh....nor does it develop any form of conscious intelligence, though it has been said that the mango does, when properly dried with adequate ultaviolate radiation, supplemented by intermittent convection currents, does, over the period of a fortnight or so, appear, or so it has been relagated over the ages by shamans, priests, gypsies, the Farmer's Almanac...Reader's Digest Condensed version, and other people with barely little other responsiblities that would require attention enough to keep such thougths from forming, in fact bare a striking resemblance to the human brain, removed of course, and dried, and with seeds I would imagine, but definitely the human brain, or some semblence of something that might in fact in low lighting be mistook for a human brain. I certainly hope that I have been of some assistance and have shed some etheral light on your search for mythical fruits or myths about fruits, or fruits in myths...something to that effect. Good luck in your quest, kind sir. For I know that as Arthur searched for the Holy Grail...even though he may not have found it, and that he may not have even existed. (We're pretty sure there was a Grail though.)....you will most certainly, inevitably, and beyond a shadow of a doubt, find your fruit. Mark...... [email protected]

I digress. The myth of tomatoes being poisonous may be true. But as I do not like tomatoes, and have not eaten same, and being still alive, or at least showing vital sign activity on my last doctor's visit, it would appear that they may well be poisonous. I would suggest an experiment, choosing someone you would not like and suggesting they have a tomatoe or two for consumption. If in fact, they die, and no buses, trains, projectiles, or pit vipers, are involved, you can deduce that the tomato was the cause of the death, and that it was in fact, poisonous. Although, one must take in consideration that the victim of the ill-fated tomato may have simply choked on said tomato, which would stil be a valid cause of death, but would not satisfy the hypothesis that the tomato was, in fact, poisonous. And the fact that the person in question had no direct allergy to tomatoes in general, in which case could also cause choking, which again, would disqualify any theories on poisonous tomatoes. Quite a quandary, no doubt. Good luck. Mark again.....

I can personally attest that the tomato is definitely NOT poisonous... having consumed the average haywagon (with side racks) full and still kicking.

You might say that this does not prove my hypothesis, since I may, indeed, be dead.

I counter with:

Even hell is not this bad.

I would have loved to have read all that, but alas my time is short upon this earth!

Suffice it to say that once upon a time tomatos were considered poisonous and rocks would not burn.

NM

And the earth was flat!

At any rate, back to the original request... Just to let you know (in case you don't, which you probably do but I'm more inclined to over-explain than leave something to chance ) Johnny Appleseed was not a myth, though that wasn't his real name (and for the life of me that has escaped me atm). In fact, some of the trees that he planted are still surviving to this day. (I know. There are still a few left in my back 'yard' (aka, the upper 20 ).

Was Johnny Appleseed the cad who ran about planting all of those awful poisonous tomatoes???? Perhaps if he had developed more of an interest in peaches as a youth, countless lives would have been saved, or not, who knows.

And I might add that he was quite sly in using the monniker of "Appleseed" to disguise his true ambitions. From this time forward, we should all buy seedless produce.

But did he really wear that pot on his head, as Disney portrayed him?

NM

Of course not! I think it was actually a pie tin.

And carried a big sack of plain flour on his belt!

NM

Fruit huh? Well, just let me tell you one thing..... if we are to start eating seedless fruit, then are we not in fact eating vegetables?
signed, curious.

Animal, mineral, or vegetable... yep. And even if we're not.

In fact, the tomato was actually once called the "love apple", and technically, is a fruit.The assumption that it might be poisonous probably came from the fact that it was, and still is, to my knowledge, red, because red is supposed to be nature's way of saying "keep away!!!!"

Then why are so many good things to eat coloured red? Apples, cherries, tomatoes, berries, bell peppers, meat... just to name a few.

'Nonnie
(Why am I getting hungry? )