{"id":674,"date":"2011-09-05T11:12:08","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T18:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=674"},"modified":"2011-09-07T14:54:43","modified_gmt":"2011-09-07T21:54:43","slug":"distracted-by-the-fall-of-the-tomato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/uncategorized\/distracted-by-the-fall-of-the-tomato\/","title":{"rendered":"Distracted By The Fall of the Tomato"},"content":{"rendered":"

Instead of staying focused on writing my mother’s memoir, I’ve been distracted by the plight of the tomato.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>This may seem odd, when there’s so much going on in the world – ongoing fighting in Libya, unrest in Egypt over Mubarek’s trial, starvation of unfathomable proportions in Somalia- and yet, the tomato’s downfall says a lot about where we are heading as a human race.<\/p>\n

When I read \\”How we ruined the tomato\\”<\/a> in Maclean’s magazine, a review of Barry Estabrook’s tell-all book,\u00a0 Tomatoland<\/a> I was stunned. I learned that producers of this lovely fruit are altering it by blasting the unripened green balls with ethylene, turning them red before their time. No wonder we consumers end up with a bland, no tasteless addition to our meals.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t that long ago, that a tomato tasted like a tomato. My mother’s garden, which occupied half a city lot, produced tomatoes\u00a0 you could eat like an apple. All you needed was a little bit of salt to enhance its already delicious flavor. The taste of tomato, along with running barefoot in the grass, was that slice of summer I miss today.<\/p>\n

How did we allow this to happen? I feel like I’ve been a partner to some crime, even though it’s all been done behind my back in the name of greed. When I look at the big picture, I feel responsible. And yet, I love buying those uniformly red and round globes. They promise so much. When I buy them, I don’t see the migrant workers who toil for wages that haven’t changed in 30 years. I overlook the fact that 100 pesticides used to grow these perfect specimens pollute our soil and air.\u00a0 Oh yeah, and then there’s the other fact that a large percentage of the nutrients nature endowed this fruit with has been stripped away. It doesn’t matter, does it? I can always buy vitamins over the counter to make up for it. Drug companies need our business, too.<\/p>\n

I tell myself, I’m not buying my tomatoes from some traveling snake oil salesmen who promised a lot but left his customers cheated. Or am I?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Instead of staying focused on writing my mother’s memoir, I’ve been distracted by the plight of the tomato.\u00a0 This may seem odd, when there’s so much going on in the… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88,1],"tags":[163,78,165,164,36,161,162,5],"class_list":["post-674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-uncategorized","tag-barry-easterbrook","tag-diana-stevan","tag-greed","tag-macleans","tag-memoir","tag-tomato","tag-tomatoland","tag-writing-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-aS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":493,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/the-battle-over-words\/","url_meta":{"origin":674,"position":0},"title":"The Battle Over Words","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"14 \u041b\u0438\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Awhile ago, I wrote about Stieg Larsson's books, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and his sequels and how impressed I was with his ability to write a page turning novel. As many of his fans know, there's a battle now going on about who owns the words that were\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/the-wife-with-the-angry-memoir1-300x195.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":715,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/life\/what-price-beauty\/","url_meta":{"origin":674,"position":1},"title":"What Price Beauty?","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"6 \u0416\u043e\u0432\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"What lengths would you go to try and live up to the popular media\u2019s conception of beauty? Judging by what is going on in society today, it seems that many will go to extraordinary lengths in order to compete in the marketplace. An article in Maclean's recently caught my attention:\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Leather_Fetish_Shoes-300x298.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1951,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/writing\/20-genders-and-more-really\/","url_meta":{"origin":674,"position":2},"title":"20 Genders And More, Really?","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"25 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning\u2014while taking a break from writing\u00a0a\u00a0novelette, one that shows sex in the 50s\u2014a letter to the editor in a recent Maclean\u2019s magazine caught my attention. The writer mentioned that the government of Ontario\u2019s sex ed. program is planning on teaching\u00a0six genders, when in fact, there are more than 20\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gender Identity","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/genderbread-person-gender-identity-graphic.jpg?fit=556%2C1133&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/genderbread-person-gender-identity-graphic.jpg?fit=556%2C1133&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/genderbread-person-gender-identity-graphic.jpg?fit=556%2C1133&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4920,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2020\/uncategorized\/a-day-to-remember\/","url_meta":{"origin":674,"position":3},"title":"A Day to Remember","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"11 \u041b\u0438\u0441\u0442\u043e\u043f\u0430\u0434\u0430, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Remembrance Day in Canada is a day to remember those who've fallen in service to our country. We also remember those who've sacrificed the lives they knew and returned from battle, weary and forever scarred. In Canada, we wear a poppy in honour of those who served. Read the amazing\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"a day to remember","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/IMG_0371.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/IMG_0371.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/IMG_0371.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/IMG_0371.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":301,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/inspiration\/","url_meta":{"origin":674,"position":4},"title":"Inspiration","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"8 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Without inspiration, there is no creativity. I have a folder with photos I've taken, ones\u00a0 I think might inspire me to paint.\u00a0 This one, I took awhile ago, reminds me of what I'm working on right now, writing my grandmother's memoir. This feather was dropped by a seagull in our\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/P11207323-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3613,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2018\/writing\/the-agony-and-ecstasy-of-writing\/","url_meta":{"origin":674,"position":5},"title":"The Agony and Ecstasy of Writing","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"8 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"What writer hasn\u2019t experienced both agony and ecstasy in their writing? Following your passion means subjecting yourself to those highs and lows. Self-doubts of All Writers This post, however, isn't so much about my agony and ecstasy in writing, it's about what all writers go through when they write their\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=0889227411&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=dianastevan08-20","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}