A CAUTIOUS BEGINNING
The first known occasion of tomatoes being grown in Britain was in 1554 but they were cultivated as ornamentals climbing plants. Despite the fact that the tomato was already a popular foodstuff in Spain and Italy, the Elizabethans thought that the bright red colour of tomatoes was a warning signal and believed them to be poisonous. The famous 16th Century herbalist John Gerard described tomatoes as “of ranke and stinking savour”.
Despite the appearance of the first British tomato recipe in the 1758 edition of Hannah Glasse’s popular The Art of Cookery, suspicions about the tomato’s edibility remained and even crossed the Atlantic when the tomato headed back west. In one of the earliest recorded publicity stunts in 1820, a grower named Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson announced he would eat a whole bushel of tomatoes in public to prove they were safe to eat. A crowd of thousands turned up to watch Colonel Johnson perform this feat on the steps on the Boston courthouse and were apparently shocked and not a little disappointed when he didn’t drop down dead.
http://www.nfu.org.uk/stellentdev/groups/public/documents/ianda/theloveapple_ia41500675-9.hcsp
