In Praise of Tomatoes : Tasty Recipes, Garden Secrets, Legends & Lore

Rating:
Summary: Excellent 'Mater Intro at Good Price. Some things missing.
Review: `In Praise of Tomatoes' is a better than average large format, glossy, moderately priced book which seems to be published to go directly to the discount stacks in the megabookstore lobbies. In spite appearances, this is definitely better than the average Borders' entrance clutter.

The book does a pretty good job of covering just about every tomato subject you can think of, and a few which may have escaped you, which makes the book just that much more valuable.

The backbone of the book is the collection of fifty-two (52) recipes that are scattered throughout the book and thoughtfully indexed by type of dish at the front of the book. Since it is obvious that even a folio sized book of 174 pages can't begin to give a comprehensive coverage to tomato recipes, the author has thoughtfully mixed standards such as Bloody Mary, Minestrone, and Stuffed Tomatoes with some unusual variations of classics such as the BLFGT (Bacon, Lettuce, and Fried Green Tomato) sandwich, grilled pizza, and ratatouille hoagie. The book is written by a journeyman food and crafting author, Ronni Lundi, but the recipes are done by professional chef John Stehling, co-owner of a restaurant specializing in dishes based on tomatoes, named `Early Girl Eatery'.

The book opens with a history of the travels of the tomato from pre-Columbian times up to the 19th century, when the luscious fruit reached its full modern distribution and conquest of the world's cuisines. There is much more here than the usual story of how the Spaniards brought it from Mexico to the Mediterranean. The next chapter is on an explanation of heirloom tomatoes and their growing popularity. A co-author, Barbara Ciletti, provides a very important chapter, `The Essential Tomato Garden Primer' on how to select, plant, and care for tomato plants, including the incredibly surprising fact that tomatoes really like to be fondled. Seriously, they grow better when there is a goodly amount of breeze to stroke the leaves.

Another essential section of the book is the table of tomato varieties showing when they will yield their best harvest, whether they are determinate (lots of tomatoes over a short time) or indeterminate (steady yield over a long season), and the best uses for each tomato variety.

In addition to all the recipes, there is a chapter on preserving tomatoes by canning, freezing, and drying. I was particularly interested in the notion of freezing tomatoes, as an `old wives tale' states that you cannot freeze tomato recipes, as they get watery when they are defrosted, yet dozens of cookbooks give freezing instructions for tomato recipes every day. The next section discusses out of season tomatoes trucked in from warmer climes and grown under glass. Here is explained the fact that Florida and California tomatoes sold in January have poor taste because they are bread for travel, not taste. It also warns against believing the `vine ripened' label. These were probably picked while still green and, if you are lucky, were not gassed with ethylene to ripen them just before hitting the market shelves. Appropriately, the next chapter is on canned tomatoes, traditionally preferred for cooking over out of season fresh tomatoes. This is joined by the story of catsup and salsa, and excellent recipes for homemade catsup. By the way, if you want an insightful essay on catsup, check out the article in the most recent Food issue of the `New Yorker' in your library. It was the Sept. 6 issue with the cover of Republican elephants crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.

At this point, the book goes into some of the more frivolous `mater topics, including a piece on the series of `Attack of the Killer Tomato' movies and the Rotten Tomatoes movie review web site. This is followed by more fluff about the use of the word `tomato' in American slang. The book returns to more serious matters with a piece on tomato festivals and a very nice color picture section of tomato inspired art, with due homage given to Andy Warhol.

While I do not expect a book of this size to be complete on such a big subject, I was surprised at some of the simple things it missed. While there are excellent descriptions of heirloom seed societies and collectives, there is nothing given about addresses, telephone numbers, or web sites which would enable us to contact these organizations. Similarly, there are no addressees, telephone numbers, or web sites given for commercial tomato seed vendors or tomato festivals. Lastly, there is no bibliography of reference works on tomatoes, even though the book refers to several such reference works. Including these items would have doubled the value of the book. I also found the catalogue of tomatoes a little weak by neither summarizing tomato types nor giving more details on some varieties, as none of the tomatoes I planted this year are on their list.

Even so, at a list price of less than $20, this book is definitely worth buying if you have any interest in growing, eating, or buying tomatoes. The information on heirlooms, seeds, and festivals should be just enough to google your way to the appropriate web sites for more information.