The Allegorical Tomato March 5, 2007
Posted by m5 in Food, Life.trackback
As a lazy midweek pub conversation turned to food, someone raised a quibble with how most tomatoes these days are tasteless, though perfect looking. And I thought I was the only one who’d noticed the tasty tomato dearth!
He asked, “What is the world coming to?” and there could be no reply but, “Bad tomatoes, and good presentation.” While the comment was true on the literal level, as I said it, I couldn’t help but feel wistful at the thought of how applicable it was to much of the (American?) values of today. External success and appearance drive our society to a large degree. What of the meat inside us?
we must still be linked because i was thinking the exact same thing two days ago and recalling the most amazing tomato i ever ate — in berkeley, by the way. and it wasn’t an organic heirloom tomato or some such — it was one of the ordinary pretty ones. so despite all the machinations, they can’t breed the lusciousness out of every robot tomato….
Emily, I sure agree with your distinction between external appearance and what I would call perhaps “authentic satisfaction”. And I’m loving your blog btw.
But I also want to add a note of empathy for those driven by external success. What’s going on for them? What needs do they have and how are they trying to meet them? (Using the Non-Violent Communication model.) And what needs do you and I have that are not being met when we see externally-driven success ….
BSP: we talk some about this in the courses I’m involved in (see the link below).
All the best!
-Brian
ps. the URL is http://www.sfFinancialCircle.com
A perfect-looking tomato gives no hint about its taste. The same goes for a less-than-perfect-looking tomato. Given two such tomatoes, I’m forced to trust my eyes when given no other method to determine taste, because that’s the best first approximation.
Some other example would be milk. Atleast with milk I’ve got an expiration date to go with the appearance.
Given the option of one-week-old milk and two-week-old milk, I’ll buy the week-old milk every time no matter how perfect the two-week-old milk might appear, because that’s the best second approximation.
Brian, thanks for offering your perspective. I absolutely empathize with those who feel driven by external success: I feel it’s unfortunate that so many people don’t consider for themselves what would bring them authentic satisfaction, as you put it, and default to what society tells them should bring them satisfaction.
Of course, external success and authentic satisfaction aren’t mutually exclusive… and I’m guessing that this may be a point that gets made in your course. Taking your realm as an example, I certainly don’t think that the goal of financial wealth is at odds with an authentic life (though some people probably believe that).
For those of you in the Bay Area, I highly recommend that you take a look at Brian’s website. He has started an organization with the beautiful goal of facilitating financial empowerment, with intensive courses, expert advice, and community support. The first course sold out!
Hearing you talk about tomatoes reminds me how much I miss dry farmed tomatoes from Berkeley Bowl. But I am trying not to think about food because the choices here in BsAs are more limited than in the Bay Area. But it’s a great point you bring up and for me it brings into question the growing/development process. Most commercial tomatoes are just pumped with water to maximize the number of tomatoes and the speed in which they ripe, etc. It looks great but is tasteless (as you’ve mentioned). It’s the same with the fast-food mentality of the US where people want everything now. I want to be a great tango dancer now, I want to be a great rock climber now, or I want to be rich now, etc. I feel that this mentality is very prevalent in the US culture and most people are so focused on the ends that they forget how important the journey is. People are so focused on the ends that sometimes they forget why they even want it in the first place. For me, the journey is what gives it substance, the juice to the tomato so to speak. Anyways, send me some dry farmed tomatoes, would you?
Yes, there tends not to be much savoring of life in the U.S. Maybe that’s why tasteless tomatoes are tolerated :) I’ve not had the pleasure of trying these dry farmed tomatoes of which you speak; it’s on the list to try when I get back to the Bay!
I agree with the importance of the journey, and appreciating the present moment as it is. Also, I think for some people, it’s not even that they have forgotten why they want the ends that they seek, but that they may never have even really asked themselves why they want it.
Tasty tomatoes can be grown in a pot. I have some Early Bird tomatoes in a pot and they are tasty. Maybe part of savoring life is to work and enjoy the fruits of your labor.