[hinkley]

This is not recent news to some of us.

The theoretical model put forth is this: the nutrition in fruits and seeds comes from the plant, not the ground. It’s substantially what’s been saved up all season. So when a smaller plant has bigger fruit, it doesn’t have the reserves you’d expect for such a volume of produce. Hence nutritionally anemic food.

Add to this fruits and veg selected for shipping stability. Longer times to rot, and thicker skins that don’t bruise when loaded into crates. That shitty bland tomato you bought probably wasn’t even ripe when it was picked. It ripened in transit, possibly by being exposed to chemicals that boost ripening. Underripe fruits were picked before they were ready.

[caminante]

> It ripened in transit,

Don't get me started on tomatoes. We have ourselves to blame for pivoting the supply to tomato varieties with no flavor. [0]

> But as growers bred tomatoes to meet those priorities, flavour gradually diminished. “Every time they bred it and tasted it, they thought, ‘that doesn’t taste so bad,'” says Tieman. “But after doing it over and over, the flavour has changed.”

[0]https://chatelaine.com/food/trends/tomatoes-taste-florida-re...

[hinkley]

I/we use tomatoes because the sad fate of the tomato is the best rallying cry we have.

I don’t even like tomatoes, but they piss a lot of people off.

I heard an NPR interview a few years ago where a farmer was trying to do for peaches what we have done for apples - make a palette of flavors instead of the 2 we get. Those are selected for shipping as well. They are only really flavorful just before they spoil, or when baked.

[nightski]

Tomatoes are very easy to grow in a garden and besides are more like a herb because they have basically no nutritional value at 15 calories a piece.