Tomatoland
by Barry Estabrook · first published 2011
7mentions
4recommended by
7HN commenters
2012–2025first – last mentioned
57% recommend43% neutral
Investigative food journalist Barry Estabrook reveals the huge human and environmental cost of the $5 billion fresh tomato industry and the price we pay as a society when we take taste and thought out of our food purchases.
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…have lots of historically verified facts to know that modern processed foods are unhealthy and created to maximize profit. From corn syrup everywhere, to things like this: E.g. http://www.amazon.com/Tomatoland-Industrial-Agriculture-Dest...
on “A Plea for Culinary Modernism” ↗"Tomatoland", by Barry Estabrook, is an engaging (if depressing) look at how the tomato biz got that way.
on “Building Better Bananas (2012)” ↗…destabilized by the west (corporations, world bank, IMF, etc) to perpetuate resource extraction. The poor is kept poor so the rich can get richer. Why is food so plentiful and cheap? Slave labor. Read Tomatoland for a taste. Why are clothes so cheap? People are working for pennies to make those clothes. Why doesn't the iPhone price rise with inflation? There are millions of poor rural Chinese pounding for a chance…
on “In a U.S. First, New Mexico Opens Doors to Free Child Care for All” ↗There was a book about this: Tomatoland. It's depressing in the extreme.
on “Tale of Tasteless Tomatoes: Why Vegetables Do Not Taste Good Anymore” ↗…yields food which is simultaneously tastier and more affordable - but you have to learn how to cook as an independent life skill, and not constantly rely upon recipes. [1] See e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Tomatoland-Industrial-Agriculture-Des...
on “Show HN: I had issues organizing my favorite recipes, so I built this” ↗Barry Eastbrook has a book "Tomatoland" [1], about the taste of tomatoes in America, which is based on his earlier article [2]. Also there was a good interview with him on NPR [3]. Tomatoes are grown for easy transportation, and appearance,…
on “Why supermarket tomatoes tend to taste bland” ↗There's a book called "Tomatoland" that discusses the tomato industry and how tomatoes were selected not for taste, but to last through the journey to the supermarket and shelf life once there. Interview with author and excerpt are here:…
on “A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes” ↗