A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
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Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#2> In the tasting panels, there were noticeable differences in preferences: between men and women, between foodies and nonfoodies, and, perhaps most interesting, between older people and younger people. He recalled one of the students working in his laboratory picking out the supermarket tomato as her favorite in one of the taste tests.
People like what they know. But I'm guessing repeated exposure could end up shifting the tastes.
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#3From their website:
> The University of Florida has released our first two hybrids. We are in discussions with seed companies about licensing.
I hope they allow people to save seeds. They should patent all their source seeds immediately and mark them as open/allowing people to use any without worry of patents.
Farmers will need to be careful as always. Any seeds that happen to get cross pollinated with seeds from the big producers (Monsanto, DuPont, etc.) run the risk of paying licensing fees in our current fucked up patenting system (thanks GE).
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#4> In the tasting panels, there were noticeable differences in preferences: between men and women, between foodies and nonfoodies, and, perhaps most interesting, between older people and younger people. He recalled one of the students working in his laboratory picking out the supermarket tomato as her favorite in one of the taste tests. People like what they know. But I'm guessing repeated exposure could end up shifti…
I'm curious to hear how the men/women split fits into the "people like what they know" paradigm. Is the grocery store secretly swapping out my tomatoes but not my partner's?
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#5There is something wrong with the food industry. When I was growing up, they taught us that we eat veggies because when they are fully mature, all the nutrients are there and good for us.
Somehow, they found out how to make them look ready but still not ripe. And now they found out how to screw the taste to taste better.
So they will look and taste good, but the nutritive value will be questionable.
Waste of research effort.
Edit: to the people modding this down: you realize that research will hit the poorest hardest? They can't buy organic tomatoes, they think what they paid for is good nutritive food, except it isn't.
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#6From their website: > The University of Florida has released our first two hybrids. We are in discussions with seed companies about licensing. I hope they allow people to save seeds. They should patent all their source seeds immediately and mark them as open/allowing people to use any without worry of patents. Farmers will need to be careful as always. Any seeds that happen to get cross pollinated with seeds from the…
>Any seeds that happen to get cross pollinated
You can actually sue your neighbors and/or these companies for geneflow into your heirloom crops.
There has never been a recorded lawsuit where a farmer has been sued for unintentional gene flow. Only intentional patent infringement.
>(thanks GE).
People have been patenting crops for over 100 years.
Nobody cared until GMO's came along...
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#7There is something wrong with the food industry. When I was growing up, they taught us that we eat veggies because when they are fully mature, all the nutrients are there and good for us. Somehow, they found out how to make them look ready but still not ripe. And now they found out how to screw the taste to taste better. So they will look and taste good, but the nutritive value will be questionable. Waste of research…
Easy to say on a full stomach.
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#8Temple Grandin had some interesting thoughts on how single trait breeding can lead to adverse affects in her discussion on "Rapist Roosters", and how this relates to software[0]. It seems like this is also happening here.
Typically when single trait breeding leads to an adverse, undesirable affect (lack of taste), while the selected trait was obtained (in this case, possibly bigger size) breeders don't start from scratch by trying to isolate the desired trait without obtaining the undesirable trait. Instead, as in software, the breeders iterate by trying to remove the negative trait, complicating the hybrids and possibly more unknown adverse traits. It seems like it might be wise to start from scratch in some cases and keep it simple, rather then make hybrid species whose lineage can be difficult to trace.
[0]: https://books.google.com/books?id=aMVmhqpILOAC&printsec=fron... page 70
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#9There is something wrong with the food industry. When I was growing up, they taught us that we eat veggies because when they are fully mature, all the nutrients are there and good for us. Somehow, they found out how to make them look ready but still not ripe. And now they found out how to screw the taste to taste better. So they will look and taste good, but the nutritive value will be questionable. Waste of research…
Easy to say on a full stomach.
That is not the point. The stomach will stay empty, but money will be spent. This is not gmo research, this is screwing the people that can't buy organic food.
Re: A Genetic Fix to Put the Taste Back in Tomatoes
#10There's a similar problem with popcorn. Showing my age card here, but back in the 1970's popcorn actually tasted like corn, which seems to be a difficult concept to explain to anyone under 40. It all went south around the same time that microwave popcorn became popular.
People always ask if I don't like tomatoes when I eat around them in salads or remove from burgers. Nope, I love tomatoes, that's why I don't eat flavorless, unseasonal ones.
pro tip: Use canned tomatoes instead of fresh whenever out of season; canners use varieties that have not been ruined for shipping, and seal at the peak of freshness.