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Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

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Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#151

Post by shiroiushi »

apavlinovic wrote: post #30

I am Croatian, and I know exactly what the article is referring to. So much that we decided to grow our own tomatoes this year. The imported junk we get from Netherlands is abysmal compared to anything grown locally, and the reality is that we want the good stuff for ourselves, not the tourists. We were very lucky to have a great harvest of cherry, monte carlo, and plum tomatoes this year, all of which serve a differ…

>The imported junk we get from Netherlands is abysmal compared to anything grown locally

Considering how far north Netherlands is, and how gloomy the weather is, I'm not sure why anyone would think it's a good place to grow tomatoes. I thought Italy was the big tomato exporter in the EU.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#152

Post by culebron21 »

This spring (2 months before strawberry season), I bought a pack of strawberries in a supermarket. They had a good strawberry smell, some liquid (I thought it was condensate), but when I tried them at home, were like rubber inside -- absolutely tasteless. Seems these rubber strawberries were poured with strawberry syrup!!!! I let my wife try them, to feel the absurdity, and threw the rest in the trash bin.

I'm lucky to have a big marketplace in walkable distance.

My friend lived in Saint Petersburg, then moved to Yerevan (Armenia) and then to Prague (Czech rep). In Yerevan, in contrast to the other two cities, there are vegetable markets, and they have a taste. In SPb and Prague, they're like made of rubber.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#153

Post by shiroiushi »

lm28469 wrote: post #150
317070 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is capitalism failing us here? Why do we need to grow our own?

> Why is capitalism failing us here? It can't even bring housing and healthcare for all, tasty tomatoes is way down the list lmao

Capitalism isn't the reason your housing costs so much; that's because of crappy government regulations (i.e. Euclidean zoning) and NIMBYs. Remove the regulations and let landowners do what they want with land and it'll be fixed; that's how it works here in Japan.

Conversely, the reason American healthcare is such a disaster is because of really bad regulation. Developed nations have shown that good healthcare systems require strong regulation, but not shitty regulation like the US has.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#154

Post by throwaway2037 »

apavlinovic wrote: post #30

I am Croatian, and I know exactly what the article is referring to. So much that we decided to grow our own tomatoes this year. The imported junk we get from Netherlands is abysmal compared to anything grown locally, and the reality is that we want the good stuff for ourselves, not the tourists. We were very lucky to have a great harvest of cherry, monte carlo, and plum tomatoes this year, all of which serve a differ…

Why do tomatoes from Netherlands look so perfect, but taste so bland? I never understand it. I guess that they look perfect because they are grown in a green house, so no pests.

Real question: Why do tomatoes from south Europe taste so much better? Is it the sunshine, or the soil? Or is the gene stock of the tomatoes? Or... everything?

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#155

Post by s_dev »

shiroiushi wrote: post #151
apavlinovic wrote: post #30

I am Croatian, and I know exactly what the article is referring to. So much that we decided to grow our own tomatoes this year. The imported junk we get from Netherlands is abysmal compared to anything grown locally, and the reality is that we want the good stuff for ourselves, not the tourists. We were very lucky to have a great harvest of cherry, monte carlo, and plum tomatoes this year, all of which serve a differ…

>The imported junk we get from Netherlands is abysmal compared to anything grown locally Considering how far north Netherlands is, and how gloomy the weather is, I'm not sure why anyone would think it's a good place to grow tomatoes. I thought Italy was the big tomato exporter in the EU.

Netherlands is one of the most agriculturally productive nations on the planet. They simply have the greenhouse industry, port and rail infrastructure to ship out what they grow very efficiently. You can get the best tomatoes in southern Europe but unless you turn that tomato sauce or can them it's going to waste. Tomatoes are some of the most difficult veg to ship. Ripening and transporting tomatoes is a tricky problem to get right.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#156

Post by Ekaros »

em500 wrote: post #32
wafflemaker wrote: post #14

I'm Polish expat living in Norway. There are no tomatoes to be had in Norway... Just kidding. I'm actually kind of alright with the small ones (pearl tomatoes), any other don't taste like tomatoes. I believe, that the Norwegian people are so used to blandly tasting vegetables, that the worst and least ripe product parties are send to Norway. But my wife and her family are tomato people. Every time we visit Poland or…

I won't comment on the tomatoes, but as far as eggs are concerned, I'm skeptical that any claims about people being able to taste any diffence would hold up in a proper blind taste test. Conclusion from Serious Eats when they attempted to do that: It was pretty clear evidence that as far as eggs go, the mindset of the taster has far more bearing on the flavor of the egg than the egg itself. https://www.seriouseats.co…

I believe there might be certain feeds that could affect taste, hearing story of how chickens fed with fish had fish taste... But if the main feed is mostly same, the taste should be mostly same. And I doubt any producer has anything that would add any offtastes.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#157

Post by throwaway2037 »

FearNotDaniel wrote: post #148
em500 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won't comment on the tomatoes, but as far as eggs are concerned, I'm skeptical that any claims about people being able to taste any diffence would hold up in a proper blind taste test. Conclusion from Serious Eats when they attempted to do that: It was pretty clear evidence that as far as eggs go, the mindset of the taster has far more bearing on the flavor of the egg than the egg itself. https://www.seriouseats.co…

Reminds me of the time I tricked my housemate years ago by drinking his fancy single malt scotch then replacing the contents with some really cheap Spanish whisky. He came home took a sip and said "aaah, you can't beat the taste of a fine Scottish single malt". The bottle and label were enough to convince him it tasted good. (NB I'm not claiming there is no difference in flavour and quality - there absolutely is - bu…

I am shocked how good is a 10 USD bottle of whisky or Japanese shochu or wine these days. I think the science of making booze has improved so much in the last couple of decades.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#158

Post by batushka5 »

apavlinovic wrote: post #30

I am Croatian, and I know exactly what the article is referring to. So much that we decided to grow our own tomatoes this year. The imported junk we get from Netherlands is abysmal compared to anything grown locally, and the reality is that we want the good stuff for ourselves, not the tourists. We were very lucky to have a great harvest of cherry, monte carlo, and plum tomatoes this year, all of which serve a differ…

Netherlands produce really edible tomatos, just your suplier buys D category produce instead of A, which is expensive. I'm surprised that Italy or Spain can't match (maybe because of price) on my supermarket shelf. I don't challenge homegrown tomato - they are superior! But you have to survive winter somehow.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#159

Post by dagw »

lifestyleguru wrote: post #6
317070 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is capitalism failing us here? Why do we need to grow our own?

Capitalism gives you perfectly uniform porno-tomatoes and watered ketchupy tomato sauce. No surprise, capitalism extract profits on all ends - production, storage, and distribution and it doesn't result with tasty aromatic tomatoes.

Capitalism gives me options. I can get expensive tasty locally grown tomatoes when in season, if I want, while still being able to get really cheap tomatoes at any time of the year.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#160

Post by xattt »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #154
apavlinovic wrote: post #30

I am Croatian, and I know exactly what the article is referring to. So much that we decided to grow our own tomatoes this year. The imported junk we get from Netherlands is abysmal compared to anything grown locally, and the reality is that we want the good stuff for ourselves, not the tourists. We were very lucky to have a great harvest of cherry, monte carlo, and plum tomatoes this year, all of which serve a differ…

Why do tomatoes from Netherlands look so perfect, but taste so bland? I never understand it. I guess that they look perfect because they are grown in a green house, so no pests. Real question: Why do tomatoes from south Europe taste so much better? Is it the sunshine, or the soil? Or is the gene stock of the tomatoes? Or... everything?

Tomatoes are a climacteric fruit, meaning they have a ripening period after which they start to decompose. Mass-produced climacteric fruits are picked underripe to ensure stability during transport.

The flavours that make garden-fresh tomatoes develop only when the fruit is allowed to ripen on the vine. As a result, you’re very likely not to have full flavour from supermarket fruit.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6895250/

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