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Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

croatiaweek.com

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Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#161

Post by adrianN »

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 in supermarkets are varieties that are optimized to survive transport and storage and are not harvested at peak ripeness.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#162

Post by firebaze »

batushka5 wrote: post #158
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.

Please forgive me to disagree wholeheartedly and completely. After several years of "let's check again if tomatoes from Netherlands are still bad" I have completely stopped buying them altogether. They look great, smell good, and taste absolutely bland.

Price does not make any distinction whatsoever, from my point of view. Or we only get the "cheap" stuff in all our shops here if the tomatoes are from Netherlands. And I do like to pay for good vegetables, esp. tomatoes (the ones I am buying are from Spain, locally grown or seldomly from the Balkans).

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#163

Post by kome »

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?

I think it's the soil. My intuition is that Dutch tomatoes grow in hydroponics or a similar environment that is poor in minerals and other micronutrients. I am sure they could replicate the soil and flavor of an Italian tomato, but perhaps it would be too expensive to do so. But in the supermarket, the word "Dutch" on a tomato is a scarlet letter: I know I'm not going to buy it.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#164

Post by bryanrasmussen »

firebaze wrote: post #162
batushka5 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Please forgive me to disagree wholeheartedly and completely. After several years of "let's check again if tomatoes from Netherlands are still bad" I have completely stopped buying them altogether. They look great, smell good, and taste absolutely bland. Price does not make any distinction whatsoever, from my point of view. Or we only get the "cheap" stuff in all our shops here if the tomatoes are from Netherlands. An…

I would say the best cherry tomatoes from Netherlands are passable for cooking.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#165

Post by TheAlchemist »

Almost bring tears to my eyes !

It probably would, if I haven't started to grow my own tomatoes in the last 2 years.

I wonder how many young people never tasted real tomatoes ? What you can buy in the supermarket has pretty much no taste. And that's in Europe. In US, you have absolutely 0 taste at all. No wonder you guys put sugar and artificial flavors in everything.

I know it's hard to believe for somebody who never tasted 'the real stuff', but few things can beat a good bread, still a bit warm, with butter, salt and fresh tomatoes from a garden.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#166

Post by ccozan »

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?

Mainly soil and the climate. I have imported soil and I get in my garten incredibly tasty tomatoes. Sun is sparse so they take longer to ripe but the taste is original.

Re: Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

#170

Post by specproc »

voyager7 wrote: post #98
specproc wrote: post #40

For those in the audience that have only ever eaten supermarket tomatoes, I'm sorry to say you've probably never really eaten a tomato. I live in a small, agricultural country and the article resonated. Over the last 10 years supermarkets and imported vegetables have become a much more important part of our national diet. It's such an important staple food. Historically very cheap (because widely grown) wildly divers…

What country is that?

Georgia, the country.
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