ok, first of all thank you for pronouncing bruschetta the Italian way. second of all I wrote an entire master's thesis to explain exactly the way Italian American food is different than Italian food. and this is the BEST possible way to explain it, thank you, GRAZIE
Worth noting that basil was also a latecomer to Italy! The plant is native to India, and first began to be grown in Italy in the medeival era. (Likewise, India has the Mediterranean to thank for cumin.)
Basil is not native to India. Basil is native to the Mediterranean while Holy Basil is native to Asian countries including India. Basil and Holy Basil are two completely different plants, both belonging to the mint family.
I think the same interesting questions might be asked of chilis and all of the Asian cultures that prominently include them in their national dishes, including Korean kimchi, and Thai curries. Or even the Irish and the potato.
@@richardmiller9883 It's true, isn't it. Everything in the nightshade/solanum family---tomatoes, potatoes, chilis, and eggplant--came from South America. It's remarkable how they've become so widespread and integrated into the national dishes of so many Old World cuisines and cultures. As someone of Korean heritage, I can't imagine meals without kimchi. And yet some version of it must've existed before chilis were introduced.
@@pelarinbacosiii448 Well, the edible ones (except the eggplant). Solanoideae are pre-Columbian on both sides of the Atlantic. The genus solanum is particularly widespread.
Chilis are so integral to Korean / Indian / Chinese cooking that I've seen some nationalist revisionist histories of how they actually had them pre Colombian exchange, which are very funny
It is interesting to notice that many European culinary traditions would not exist without the contribution of the Americas, namely corn, tomatoes and potatoes.
Yep, for example you can find in Siena that all the traditional dishes are of medieval origins without products coming from the Americas, and that's really unique.
You failed to mention that the Southern half of Italy and especially Sicily were PART of the Spanish Empire and ruled by Isabella and Ferdinand in 1492 - the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. That's the main reason Southern Italians eat more tomatoes - not ' poverty'. The Spanish owned southern Italy and brought Tomatoes, Chocolate, Peppers, Guinea Pigs and even Prickly Pear Cactus DIRECTLY to southern Italy and Sicily, from South/Central America, in the "Pan Columbian Exchange", through the 1600's. These products didn't go through Spain first. Modica, Sicily was a Spanish Bourbon city from the 1600's at the Height of Spanish Rule known for chocolate. The Spanish ruled Naples in the 1600's - which is why the first tomato sauce recipe comes from this period. Southern Italy and Sicily were using tomatoes before Tuscany - which was not ruled by the Spanish, but you cite Tuscany first.
this is pretty good, but the fact that you include chocolote reveals that the exchange came through Mexico, not South America alone as chocolate is of MEXICAN origin, not South American. And in Mexico you would also find tomatoes, prickly pears, and peppers more so as part of the culinary tradition. South American cuisine does not in general feature chile peppers or prickly pears as much as Mexican, even though tomatoes, chiles, and potatoes are native to the Andean region. Except for potatoes and possibly tomatoes, all the other foods mentioned are more largely adopted and featuring more in Mexican gastronomy.
@@daharos I know the Pan Columbian Exchange came mostly through Mexico. Not guinea pigs obviously - so there were other sources of goods. Prickly pear cactus from Mexico grows wild in Sicily and they eat it. The Spanish/Sicilians gave Mexico Horchata from Italian Orzata where its made with Almond milk. Im Sicilian and know the history well. Turkeys were also brought to Southern Italy.
One of my grandmothers thought that cucumbers were poison unless you squeezed all of the juice out. She'd put a towel on a plate, put the cukes in, then a plate on top, lastly heavy books. They couldn't be eaten until the next day. We all just ate the floppy cukes without a word. 😂
@@silentsmurf I start my pickles by coating the chips in salt for about 2 hours, and then rinse them off, Then normal pickling process. You get nice crisp pickles that way!
As I stare at my own thriving but stubbornly not fruiting tomato plants, I thank you for allowing me to tell myself that I am simply doing as the well-off people of history did. It's ok that they are determined to be solely ornamentals this year!
Proud Italian heritage here where my my maternal grandparents came to America, at different times during their lives to escape the dictatorship regime of Mousseline. I always appreciate history and facts. Thanks so much for this 😊.
I ate tomato 🍅 my favorite way this morning: pick it off my plant, pop off the green lid, and pop it right into my mouth after thanking my generous plant for the gift. Second favorite is insalata Caprese with robust olive oil 🫒 and fresh basil (it's growing right next to the tomato). Home grown tomatoes are a real treat!
That's a coincidence. "Melanzana" comes from medieval Greek "melintzana", which in turn was a bowdlerization of Arabic "badinjan" (which also, via a different route, led to the French "aubergine").
Mexico is where all these delicious foods were discovered and spread to all the world . Home of the Chile pepper, tomato, Cacoa, Avocado and Vanilla!! Mexico is influential form in all aspects rich land, food and culture.
Funny thing is that across Latin America and Spain--especially Mexico the tomato is cooked very similar to the way it is in Italy, not just in salsas. The main difference is that aside from Argentina or Uruguay (with a large Italian presence), the sauces are used differently. In Mexico for instance a sofrito base is used for Mexican rice and pasta and bean soups (like fideo). The sofrito base includes blended tomatoes, garlic, and onion, which are then added to toasted rice in oil if making Mexican rice, or toasted pasta (if making pasta/noodle soups). The sauce is cooked in the oil and rice mixture like cooking marinara sauce, but with extra water added. For rice that water is then allowed to evaporate. For soups its just allowed to boil a bit and for the pasta noodles to soften.
@krono5el Salsa is just the Spanish/Italian word for sauce, and can be made from anything (including milk, cream, nuts, butter, herbs, eggs, spices, lemon, oils, etc.), but yes tomato sauces were first made in Mexico and MesoAmerica for a long time before they reached Europe. Same for chile pepper sauces.
Corn, tomatoes, potatoes, turkey, and chili peppers were American products introduced to Europeans after discovery and colonization.... makes you wonder about the European diet before then... heavy on wheat, oats, barley, cheese and olives... I guess.
A couple points: It would be an interesting supplement here, to have offered a quick description of what Italian cuisine was like •before• the Columbian Interchange. Also, the presentation would have done well to note that Old World cuisines were not entirely devoid of ingredients lending culinary “heat” to dishes, prior to the introduction of chilis of the genus Capsicum from the Americas. For example. long-familiar spices such as black pepper and long pepper, and condiments such as horseradish, had provided heat in European, African, and Asian dishes long before trade with the New World started - although, to be sure, not with the intensity of many chilis.
I like tomatoes in pretty much any form but sometimes I'll just slice up a tomato and put a bit of salt on the slices and eat them raw and it's delicious 😂
best tomato that I have ever eaten? that is easy. Being 10 years old with friends, grabbing the salt shaker from the kitchen, raiding a neighbor's garden, grabbing a fresh tomato from the vine, sitting under an oak tree, and savoring the fresh taste of a newly ripe one. (bonus: raiding the neighbor's grape vines and savoring the taste of newly plucked grapes).
As a Southerner, I have to say it's hard to beat a good BLT. I worked in an Italian restaurant in Richmond, VA back in the 80s with some guys very recently arrived from Italy and when I tried to tell them the truth about tomatoes, they looked at me like I had two heads--and that neither one of them had a brain. Julius Caesar, they explained to me, ate tomatoes every day of his life.
Same thing in South east asia esp in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand etc. Chilis and peppers become our main staples also originally from the Americas.
Hard to believe Europeans were not used to spicy food by 16th century Considering the Spice route that started sometime in India 3000 years ago... greeks and Romans found it from Egypt and Mesopotamia during their conquests Rome was once even on the brink of bankruptcy due to the excessive import of Black pepper which was valued against gold due to its strong taste and texture and was highly in demand by the Royals and common folk alike
And European continent gave the world Apples, Pears, Carrots, Cabbage and Turnips... Food gets exchanged and shared through various cultures which is awesome.
Салата от нарязани на средни по размер парчета домати, краставици, лук, зелени пиперки, сирене фета и магданоз с дресинг от винен оцет и слънчогледово масло. И задължително малко хляб отделно, за да се обере соса накрая - най-вкусното. Деконструирани брускети, както биха казали днешните кулинари. А в България - шопска салата. Добър апетит!
The tomato likely arrived in Italy directly from Mexico rather than from Spain. During much of the Spanish Empire when Spain had what were called viceroyalties (condidered akin to kingdoms of Spain but abroad), there was diffusion. Spain then ruled territories in northern and southern Italy (the 2 Sicilies), and actually the southern portion was a viceroyalty as it was ruled by viceroys. In the Americas initially you had the viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico) and Peru (modern day Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, etc.). Usually New Spain had viceroys from Spain, but occasionally also of French or Italian origin. And when the King of Spain expelled the Jesuits from its territories they were all exiled to Italy due to its association with Rome. Most Jesuits in Mexico were by then born in Mexico to wealthy Mexicans of Spanish background. Its likely things like tomatoes, potatoes, chile peppers, and even Mexican cactus made it to Italy from Mexico around this time which was roughly from 1550-1800. Mexican cactus grows wild in the Italian countryside the same way it does in central Mexico.
That could be true, since there were many Italian conquistadores taking part in the colonization of what we now call Mexico, there are books on the Italian population that existed in Mexico in the colonial era
Best tomato is one that is good enough to eat like an apple… juice running down your chin… my father brought seeds in his pocket from the old country 65 years ago, still growing strong!
Thinking about the origin cuisine associated with the tomato upon its arrival in Europe, this spicy dish seems to me that it fits naturally into Spanish Tapas. Then the 'Spanish style' spiciness retained in Antonio Latini's recipe put me in mind of Penne all'Arrabbiata.
Spaniards don't generally like spicy food. I've traveled in Spain, mostly in Andalucia, and Spaniards mostly stay away from anything with a semblance of spice. I was very surprised to learn this. On one occasion, my wife and I ate at a newly opened Mexican restaurant in Sevilla. I mentioned to the waiter that I thought the food was rather bland. He looked at me and quickly went to the kitchen and came back with a smile and some hot sauce. He told us that they keep that sauce for those who "truly appreciate" spicy food and that they don't include it with the food they serve the locals because "Spaniards have no tolerance for chili". 🌶😋
I believe the potato plant "can" (by accounts, rare, but could probably be found in the ancient varieties still grown in some areas of Bolivia) produce a tomato-looking fruit, but it is poisonous. I believe it is also thought to be very, very closely related to the tomato. The nightshade family has all sorts of members.
I get nightmares at the thought of Tomatinas and their tomato tossing. Rare is the tomato preparation I don’t just love - salsa, gazpacho, bruschetta, tomato pie, tomato salad, tomato Caprese, tomato jam, etc. ad infinitum. A simple tomato sandwich is probably my chief go-to for indulgence. It’s like edible poetry.
The info is good and interesting. But, not meaning to be a stickler however, the date Pizzeria Port’Alba opened is 1738 - at least according to their web site and the sign on the door and building. Small but significant bit of info.
It's a two way street.There was an exchange of ingredients all over the world throughout history. For example, how would "tradional" Mexican food be without wheat flour, beef, pork, chickens, lamb, goats, onions, garlic, the process of making oil and the method of frying, and cheese making to name a few if the Spanish and other Europeans didn't introduce them to the Americas? Also, the question of "chocolate", she stands to be corrected, cacao which was primarily used for cooking and drinking in the Americas was brought to Europe but it was an English man who invented the solid form of chocolate as we know it today by mixing the cocoa with a certain amounts of oils ,water, and sugar and compressing it and a Swiss man, Nestle' that invented Milk Chocolate by boiling milk with sugar and adding cocoa solids. Afterwards, it was brought to an art form by European chefs and confectioners. It's also a matter of the what people did with their new found ingredients and their inventiveness.
Knowledge in understanding tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. Philosophy is wondering if ketchup is actually a smoothie.
I wouldn't say colonisation is the reason for tomatoes coming to europe. The discovery of the Americas and the beginnings of globalisation are the reason for new plants being introduced to not just Europe, but Africa and Asia as well (jollof rice, tomato curries). Colonisation was also a result of the discovery of the Americas but isnt itself the cause of tomatoes coming to europe. Ingredients have now eben shared across all cultures and you would be hard pressed to find any culture that only uses native ingredients in their cooking
A fresh garden tomato (heirloom if available), sliced, salt & pepper, thick sliced crispy bacon, homemade mayonnaise on lightly toasted hearty bread. Great without the bacon too. Extra points if served with fresh corn and green beans. 🤤😋
Italians thought they were poisonous and after embracing them called them a “love apple”. You can see Edward G Robinson proclaim “love apple” when given one in the movie Soylent Green.
At work, I had a few tomatoes, I sliced them then dressed them. An American 20 something walked and and says; that's weird. eating just tomatoes, no salad?
No wonder pre-colonization of the America European would travel so far for spices: Their available foods were so bland and limited, they just had to find new flavours to, well pardon the pun: Spice it up! 😂
Italian American cuisine is one of America's greatest contributions to the culinary world. Chese? Yes. Meat? Yes. Bread? Yes. It's just...excessive and I love it.
fresh, ripe tomatoes dusted with coarse sea salt and ground pepper. That's all. Heavenly
And lime
This right here 100%
the simple things in life are the best!
Drizzle of aged Balsamic vinegar
ok, first of all thank you for pronouncing bruschetta the Italian way. second of all I wrote an entire master's thesis to explain exactly the way Italian American food is different than Italian food. and this is the BEST possible way to explain it, thank you, GRAZIE
Italian-Amercan food is stuck in time before WW1 when the immigrants arrived. It Italy they laugh. It's the culinary equivalent of 23 Skidoo.
shut up karen
"Different"
as in "worse"
There is no italian food, you guys just copied everybody else food...
@@goyakat2211facts
Worth noting that basil was also a latecomer to Italy! The plant is native to India, and first began to be grown in Italy in the medeival era. (Likewise, India has the Mediterranean to thank for cumin.)
Coriander is also a Mediterranean plant
You're a gd liar. The plant is native to Mexico. Get it right
Basil was called that because the Greeks thought it's aroma is for the kings βασιλιας in Greek so no it's Mediterranean.
@@alxx1378The name 'Greece' is derived from tribes from Italian region of Magna Graecia. So Greece is Italian. is it not?
Basil is not native to India. Basil is native to the Mediterranean while Holy Basil is native to Asian countries including India. Basil and Holy Basil are two completely different plants, both belonging to the mint family.
I think the same interesting questions might be asked of chilis and all of the Asian cultures that prominently include them in their national dishes, including Korean kimchi, and Thai curries. Or even the Irish and the potato.
I teach History in Thailand and my kids are always a little shocked when I point out how much of Thai cuisine is the result of the Columbian exchange.
@@richardmiller9883 It's true, isn't it. Everything in the nightshade/solanum family---tomatoes, potatoes, chilis, and eggplant--came from South America. It's remarkable how they've become so widespread and integrated into the national dishes of so many Old World cuisines and cultures.
As someone of Korean heritage, I can't imagine meals without kimchi. And yet some version of it must've existed before chilis were introduced.
@@pelarinbacosiii448 Well, the edible ones (except the eggplant). Solanoideae are pre-Columbian on both sides of the Atlantic. The genus solanum is particularly widespread.
Chilis are so integral to Korean / Indian / Chinese cooking that I've seen some nationalist revisionist histories of how they actually had them pre Colombian exchange, which are very funny
@@wunkewldewd Well the sichuan pepper is native to the Old World (and is no more a pepper than a chili is).
Sliced tomato, fresh off the vine; toasted white bread, a touch of mayo, salt, & pepper. Best. Lunch. Ever.
Make that Sourdough, and you have a deal!👍🏻✌🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😋😋😋
@@philoctetes_wordsworth Consider rubbing a garlic clove on the toasted sourdough bread before adding the tomato slice, soooooooo amazing!
Hello 👋
Add a few drops of lemon juice and zest. Amazzballs
Make those homegrown tomatoes and I’m in.
It is interesting to notice that many European culinary traditions would not exist without the contribution of the Americas, namely corn, tomatoes and potatoes.
Prior to colonization, the whole of Europe just ate coarse grain oriented food like bread and meat (and some veg).
Yep, for example you can find in Siena that all the traditional dishes are of medieval origins without products coming from the Americas, and that's really unique.
Don’t forget about vanilla or chocolate
Is corn much of a thing in Europe?
Especially regarding "traditional" dishes?
Same cor many countries around the world. Japan owes much of its culinary traditions to Europeans.
Yes, the tomato, cocoa, potato, coca and tobacco all originated in the Americas. The Spanish brought it around the world.
It was the Portuguese who brought them to Asia.
sunflower, corn, peppers, pineapples, beans, pumpkins, squash.. and many other things also
and avocados
Vanilla too
...and Europeans gave them deadly diseases, slavery, segregation and castes. seems fair.
In Serbia, we called it paradajz and in Croatia it is rajčica. Both are play on "paradise apple" and I think that it is beautiful
Paradicsom in Hungarian. Same. Paradise.
"Paradeiser" in Austrian German.
You failed to mention that the Southern half of Italy and especially Sicily were PART of the Spanish Empire and ruled by Isabella and Ferdinand in 1492 - the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. That's the main reason Southern Italians eat more tomatoes - not ' poverty'. The Spanish owned southern Italy and brought Tomatoes, Chocolate, Peppers, Guinea Pigs and even Prickly Pear Cactus DIRECTLY to southern Italy and Sicily, from South/Central America, in the "Pan Columbian Exchange", through the 1600's. These products didn't go through Spain first. Modica, Sicily was a Spanish Bourbon city from the 1600's at the Height of Spanish Rule known for chocolate. The Spanish ruled Naples in the 1600's - which is why the first tomato sauce recipe comes from this period. Southern Italy and Sicily were using tomatoes before Tuscany - which was not ruled by the Spanish, but you cite Tuscany first.
this is pretty good, but the fact that you include chocolote reveals that the exchange came through Mexico, not South America alone as chocolate is of MEXICAN origin, not South American. And in Mexico you would also find tomatoes, prickly pears, and peppers more so as part of the culinary tradition. South American cuisine does not in general feature chile peppers or prickly pears as much as Mexican, even though tomatoes, chiles, and potatoes are native to the Andean region. Except for potatoes and possibly tomatoes, all the other foods mentioned are more largely adopted and featuring more in Mexican gastronomy.
@@daharos I know the Pan Columbian Exchange came mostly through Mexico. Not guinea pigs obviously - so there were other sources of goods. Prickly pear cactus from Mexico grows wild in Sicily and they eat it. The Spanish/Sicilians gave Mexico Horchata from Italian Orzata where its made with Almond milk. Im Sicilian and know the history well. Turkeys were also brought to Southern Italy.
But a good portion of Sicily were poor. So the real answer is it comes from the poor people of Sicily and Naples.
Spain was still Hapsburg in the 17th Century, but I think Sicily was too. Same principle, though.
"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts when eating a homegrown tomato." - Lewis Grizzard. 😋❤️🍅🍅🍅🍅
"The tomato offers its' gift of fiery color and cool completeness." - Pablo Neruda. 😋❤️🍅🍅🍅🍅
The suspicion of the tomato wasn't entirely unfounded. The acidity could leach lead from pewterware in common use at the time.
That’s right. I have seen this explanation in another channel.
It does a number on my cast iron skillet if left too long too!
"You need an entire life just to know about tomatoes." - Ferran Adria. 😋❤️🍅🍅🍅🍅
Tomato fried egg is a Hong Kong staple food
I would like to try this, thanks for mentioning it!
Also my favorite hand pulled noodle topping!
i loooove bruschetta - wild to think that fancy folks just had tomatoes as decoration :o
I'm not Italian or Italian American, but I love all kinds of tomatoes. Caprese is one of my absolute favorite eats 🤌🏻
Squash and vanilla are other plants from the America's that were introduced to Europe and others as a result of colonization.
One of my grandmothers thought that cucumbers were poison unless you squeezed all of the juice out. She'd put a towel on a plate, put the cukes in, then a plate on top, lastly heavy books. They couldn't be eaten until the next day. We all just ate the floppy cukes without a word. 😂
If there were no towel and salt was added in, then you would have gotten Japanese style pickles (asazuke)
@@silentsmurf Thank you for that!
@@silentsmurf I start my pickles by coating the chips in salt for about 2 hours, and then rinse them off, Then normal pickling process. You get nice crisp pickles that way!
As I stare at my own thriving but stubbornly not fruiting tomato plants, I thank you for allowing me to tell myself that I am simply doing as the well-off people of history did. It's ok that they are determined to be solely ornamentals this year!
Proud Italian heritage here where my my maternal grandparents came to America, at different times during their lives to escape the dictatorship regime of Mousseline. I always appreciate history and facts. Thanks so much for this 😊.
"A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins." - Laurie Colwin. 😋❤️🍅🍅🍅🍅
I ate tomato 🍅 my favorite way this morning: pick it off my plant, pop off the green lid, and pop it right into my mouth after thanking my generous plant for the gift. Second favorite is insalata Caprese with robust olive oil 🫒 and fresh basil (it's growing right next to the tomato). Home grown tomatoes are a real treat!
Interestingly to notice that in italian the word for eggplant is "melanzana",which also translates as bad/poisonous apple. 2:14
That's a coincidence. "Melanzana" comes from medieval Greek "melintzana", which in turn was a bowdlerization of Arabic "badinjan" (which also, via a different route, led to the French "aubergine").
In Sicilian It's Milinciana 😊🤌🏽
My favorite? BLT sandwich on toast. The best sandwich ever!
Another favorite: fried green tomatoes 🍅 😋
Mexico is where all these delicious foods were discovered and spread to all the world . Home of the Chile pepper, tomato, Cacoa, Avocado and Vanilla!! Mexico is influential form in all aspects rich land, food and culture.
My favourite way to eat tomate is grabbing a ripe one from the vine and eat it with a bit of salt
Poison apple sauce... That's how I'm going to call it from now on.
In Serbia, we called it paradajz and in Croatia it is rajčica. Both are play on "paradise apple" and I think that it is beautiful
Tomatoes in all their forms are delicious.
This is great content! Thank you
Funny thing is that across Latin America and Spain--especially Mexico the tomato is cooked very similar to the way it is in Italy, not just in salsas.
The main difference is that aside from Argentina or Uruguay (with a large Italian presence), the sauces are used differently.
In Mexico for instance a sofrito base is used for Mexican rice and pasta and bean soups (like fideo). The sofrito base includes blended tomatoes, garlic, and onion, which are then added to toasted rice in oil if making Mexican rice, or toasted pasta (if making pasta/noodle soups). The sauce is cooked in the oil and rice mixture like cooking marinara sauce, but with extra water added. For rice that water is then allowed to evaporate. For soups its just allowed to boil a bit and for the pasta noodles to soften.
salsas were invented in the Americas and been around as long as chili peppers and maize.
@krono5el Salsa is just the Spanish/Italian word for sauce, and can be made from anything (including milk, cream, nuts, butter, herbs, eggs, spices, lemon, oils, etc.), but yes tomato sauces were first made in Mexico and MesoAmerica for a long time before they reached Europe.
Same for chile pepper sauces.
Garlic and rice were brouth by the Europeans to the Americas@krono5el
"He says I'm beautiful as a red tomato." - Jeanne DuPrau. 😋❤️🍅🍅🍅🍅
Corn, tomatoes, potatoes, turkey, and chili peppers were American products introduced to Europeans after discovery and colonization.... makes you wonder about the European diet before then... heavy on wheat, oats, barley, cheese and olives... I guess.
they had horrific lives and why they all wanted to leave their true motherland.
Excellent. Thank you.❤
A couple points: It would be an interesting supplement here, to have offered a quick description of what Italian cuisine was like •before• the Columbian Interchange.
Also, the presentation would have done well to note that Old World cuisines were not entirely devoid of ingredients lending culinary “heat” to dishes, prior to the introduction of chilis of the genus Capsicum from the Americas. For example. long-familiar spices such as black pepper and long pepper, and condiments such as horseradish, had provided heat in European, African, and Asian dishes long before trade with the New World started - although, to be sure, not with the intensity of many chilis.
She looks like the sweetest person ever :,)))) also this blew my mind
As a Sicilian-American in Los Angeles, I like the tomato cooked and raw, Italian, Mexican, and Asian style.
I like tomatoes in pretty much any form but sometimes I'll just slice up a tomato and put a bit of salt on the slices and eat them raw and it's delicious 😂
best tomato that I have ever eaten? that is easy. Being 10 years old with friends, grabbing the salt shaker from the kitchen, raiding a neighbor's garden, grabbing a fresh tomato from the vine, sitting under an oak tree, and savoring the fresh taste of a newly ripe one. (bonus: raiding the neighbor's grape vines and savoring the taste of newly plucked grapes).
As a Southerner, I have to say it's hard to beat a good BLT. I worked in an Italian restaurant in Richmond, VA back in the 80s with some guys very recently arrived from Italy and when I tried to tell them the truth about tomatoes, they looked at me like I had two heads--and that neither one of them had a brain. Julius Caesar, they explained to me, ate tomatoes every day of his life.
Problem is that erudite Italians hardly would come to work in an American restaurant, that's why they knew nothing
Same thing in South east asia esp in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand etc.
Chilis and peppers become our main staples also originally from the Americas.
I ♥ 🍅 .I love green tomatoes on 🥪 Thank you for this episode I thoroughly enjoyed it yum!God bless you in Jesus name 🙏🤍
My favorite is avocado tomato salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Thank you for saying brusKetta 👌
The thought of European elite turning their lead-powdered noses up at “poison apples” made me giggle, ngl.
My favorite ways to eat tomatoes?
-Raw tomato sandwich
-Tomato soup
-Raw on my plate as a side
-Catsup
-Spaghetti sauce
-In an omelet……..
Hard to believe Europeans were not used to spicy food by 16th century
Considering the Spice route that started sometime in India 3000 years ago...
greeks and Romans found it from Egypt and Mesopotamia during their conquests
Rome was once even on the brink of bankruptcy due to the excessive import of Black pepper which was valued against gold due to its strong taste and texture and was highly in demand by the Royals and common folk alike
And European continent gave the world Apples, Pears, Carrots, Cabbage and Turnips... Food gets exchanged and shared through various cultures which is awesome.
Carrots are from Afghanistan
Apples are from Asia.
Ehhh they could have kept Turnips lol.
Great video!
Салата от нарязани на средни по размер парчета домати, краставици, лук, зелени пиперки, сирене фета и магданоз с дресинг от винен оцет и слънчогледово масло. И задължително малко хляб отделно, за да се обере соса накрая - най-вкусното. Деконструирани брускети, както биха казали днешните кулинари. А в България - шопска салата. Добър апетит!
The tomato likely arrived in Italy directly from Mexico rather than from Spain. During much of the Spanish Empire when Spain had what were called viceroyalties (condidered akin to kingdoms of Spain but abroad), there was diffusion.
Spain then ruled territories in northern and southern Italy (the 2 Sicilies), and actually the southern portion was a viceroyalty as it was ruled by viceroys. In the Americas initially you had the viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico) and Peru (modern day Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, etc.).
Usually New Spain had viceroys from Spain, but occasionally also of French or Italian origin. And when the King of Spain expelled the Jesuits from its territories they were all exiled to Italy due to its association with Rome. Most Jesuits in Mexico were by then born in Mexico to wealthy Mexicans of Spanish background.
Its likely things like tomatoes, potatoes, chile peppers, and even Mexican cactus made it to Italy from Mexico around this time which was roughly from 1550-1800. Mexican cactus grows wild in the Italian countryside the same way it does in central Mexico.
That could be true, since there were many Italian conquistadores taking part in the colonization of what we now call Mexico, there are books on the Italian population that existed in Mexico in the colonial era
As a filling snack, una catalana. Toasted barra (Spanish for baguette), fresh grated tomato, olive oil, Serrano ham, a little salt. Fantastic.
Topped with a slice of manchego is not bad at all.
Caprese salad or panzanella
I love caprese
or even just the basic insalata pomodoro
Olive oil, garlic, tomato passata, sea salt, black pepper and fresh basil!🍝
Best tomato is one that is good enough to eat like an apple… juice running down your chin… my father brought seeds in his pocket from the old country 65 years ago, still growing strong!
Insalata caprese with heirloom tomatoes.
The best fruit/vegetable and a great snack with a pinch of salt ❤
Thinking about the origin cuisine associated with the tomato upon its arrival in Europe, this spicy dish seems to me that it fits naturally into Spanish Tapas.
Then the 'Spanish style' spiciness retained in Antonio Latini's recipe put me in mind of Penne all'Arrabbiata.
Spaniards don't generally like spicy food. I've traveled in Spain, mostly in Andalucia, and Spaniards mostly stay away from anything with a semblance of spice. I was very surprised to learn this.
On one occasion, my wife and I ate at a newly opened Mexican restaurant in Sevilla. I mentioned to the waiter that I thought the food was rather bland. He looked at me and quickly went to the kitchen and came back with a smile and some hot sauce. He told us that they keep that sauce for those who "truly appreciate" spicy food and that they don't include it with the food they serve the locals because "Spaniards have no tolerance for chili". 🌶😋
I believe the potato plant "can" (by accounts, rare, but could probably be found in the ancient varieties still grown in some areas of Bolivia) produce a tomato-looking fruit, but it is poisonous. I believe it is also thought to be very, very closely related to the tomato. The nightshade family has all sorts of members.
MARAMING SALAMAT SOUTH AMERICA!!! 🥰
I think only Americas associate it with Italy, in Latin America tomatoes are associated with mesoamerica or southern Mexico and Central America
informative! 🎉🎉🎉
insalata pomodoro is probably one of the most popular tomato dishes in Italy. Certainly the south.
I get nightmares at the thought of Tomatinas and their tomato tossing. Rare is the tomato preparation I don’t just love - salsa, gazpacho, bruschetta, tomato pie, tomato salad, tomato Caprese, tomato jam, etc. ad infinitum. A simple tomato sandwich is probably my chief go-to for indulgence. It’s like edible poetry.
1:27 not allowed to say 'slaves'?
bizarre
"Politically correct" nonsense garbage.
"Politically correct" nonsense garbage.
The info is good and interesting. But, not meaning to be a stickler however, the date Pizzeria Port’Alba opened is 1738 - at least according to their web site and the sign on the door and building. Small but significant bit of info.
So many "traditional" Western European foods are made with ingredients from the Americas. Potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, etc.
It's a two way street.There was an exchange of ingredients all over the world throughout history. For example, how would "tradional" Mexican food be without wheat flour, beef, pork, chickens, lamb, goats, onions, garlic, the process of making oil and the method of frying, and cheese making to name a few if the Spanish and other Europeans didn't introduce them to the Americas?
Also, the question of "chocolate", she stands to be corrected, cacao which was primarily used for cooking and drinking in the Americas was brought to Europe but it was an English man who invented the solid form of chocolate as we know it today by mixing the cocoa with a certain amounts of oils ,water, and sugar and compressing it and a Swiss man, Nestle' that invented Milk Chocolate by boiling milk with sugar and adding cocoa solids. Afterwards, it was brought to an art form by European chefs and confectioners.
It's also a matter of the what people did with their new found ingredients and their inventiveness.
My favorite way to eat tomatoes is roasted with salt and olive oil yumm
Knowledge in understanding tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. Philosophy is wondering if ketchup is actually a smoothie.
tomato bhaji, tomatoes cooked with mustard seed, methi and a bit of jaggery, delciious!
Love thiss❤❤
It’s just as jarring as hearing about potatoes in Tolkien-inspired medieval fantasy fiction
Latin American tomatoes came to Latin & Hispanic ancestors around the 15th century and gave them Tomatina festival 🇪🇸🇮🇹
the narrator mentions thyme but the screen shows rosemary. Haha!
I wouldn't say colonisation is the reason for tomatoes coming to europe. The discovery of the Americas and the beginnings of globalisation are the reason for new plants being introduced to not just Europe, but Africa and Asia as well (jollof rice, tomato curries). Colonisation was also a result of the discovery of the Americas but isnt itself the cause of tomatoes coming to europe.
Ingredients have now eben shared across all cultures and you would be hard pressed to find any culture that only uses native ingredients in their cooking
I love tomatoes as a hand fruit with a little salt.
I had this topic on my mind for *months*
I prefer a cut of rye bread, thin layer of butter and sliced tomato. Other preferred is steamed legumes then cooked with tomatoes and cumin..
Love the American accent in Italian words
What is just as funny with pasta and tomato sauce being one of the first things people think of when you say Italian food is the pasta came from Asia
A fresh garden tomato (heirloom if available), sliced, salt & pepper, thick sliced crispy bacon, homemade mayonnaise on lightly toasted hearty bread. Great without the bacon too. Extra points if served with fresh corn and green beans. 🤤😋
Italians thought they were poisonous and after embracing them called them a “love apple”. You can see Edward G Robinson proclaim “love apple” when given one in the movie Soylent Green.
Wait since when are tomatoes spicy? Also in southern italy especially chilies are used in a lot of recipes, especially in Calabria
Those chilis or Chiles are also from Latin America introduced to Europe by the Spaniards and Portuguese
@@ericktellez7632 yes i know
This video must have been written and produced by SciShow.. perhaps Hank’s team produced and sold this video to PBS?
Even the garlic and basil weren't originated in Italy nor Europe. Hey Italians, it's time to revive some true Italian ingredients!!
Also the inclusion of Olive Oil with the tomato as the foundation of the sauce.
Point of information the Irish didn't do any colonizing!
Another reason that tomatoes may have been considered poisonous: the acidity leached lead out of lead dishes/cans and caused problems.
I didn't realize that hot peppers came from Central / South America as well.
Tomatoes are an Italian essential mostly in the eyes of Americans. The Italians have many sauces that do not involve tomatoes.
Smokey Jollof rice, chicken and plantain.
At work, I had a few tomatoes, I sliced them then dressed them. An American 20 something walked and and says; that's weird. eating just tomatoes, no salad?
My heartburn ruins tomato sauces for me
I like them in the chines style of fired egg and tomatos!
No wonder pre-colonization of the America European would travel so far for spices: Their available foods were so bland and limited, they just had to find new flavours to, well pardon the pun: Spice it up! 😂
The tomato wasn't perfected untill it was grown in the shadow of Vesuvius
A favorite? Sofrito.
Italian American cuisine is one of America's greatest contributions to the culinary world. Chese? Yes. Meat? Yes. Bread? Yes.
It's just...excessive and I love it.
Ragu alla Bolognese is the best tomato dish.
Gotta love the American continents.