Thursday, February 12, 2009

Weirdest Veggie 2009 - Cannibal Tomato

It seems that every year I hear about another new and weird veggie. Could be weird for its looks. Could be due to history. Could even be the name.

This year is no exception and my personal fave for weirdness is the Cannibal Tomato.

It's actually an eggplant, though it is red or green. It is from Fiji and thereabouts and supposedly, the sauce made from it was used for cannibal meals.

Talk about gross.

Now, I'm no shrinking violet and I do love a weird vegetable. I'm an experimenter by nature. But this one just couldn't make it to my short list.

It wasn't the veggie, it was the idea of it. I mean, wouldn't you instinctively shy a bit from something you know had that history? Could you enjoy it knowing the history or would you get a little gag reflex going when you really thought about it.

It's not quite fair really. Poor eggplant. Picked on for it's history. Shame on me!

5 comments:

Amanda said...

Eeeewwwww!

Judy T said...

My garden partner is going to grow an heirloom pepper called Peter, Red. I'm too much of a prude or I'd post pictures of it. Well, maybe I'm not that much of a prude. We'll see.
Judy

Jennifer said...

Interesting! The description said they were bitter? So it doesn't sound like they would be very good anyway...even if you could get past their history. Still, very interesting!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Well, it must be a tasty, savory tomato to make human meat taste palatable, so I'd try it. :D
But I'm weird that way.

~Lisa

Anonymous said...

Its actually not an eggplant or a tomato. It is in the same family as both (Solonum) though. Cut open it looks more like a tomato than an eggplant and its seeds look like a cross between the two. But the foliage is very eggplant-like. Maybe try crossing it with eggplants and tomatoes and see what cha get.