A Tomato in Any Other color

When ever there are reports on food in the media, the comments following the article are often as interesting as the article itself and reveal what people are really thinking.  The news that the unnaturally red and firm tomatoes in the grocery store were developed for looks and lost their taste as a result was not startling news to most of us. Consumers associate redness and firmness with ripeness and that is what producers must provide. Consumers also want tomatoes in their grocery stores at all times of  the year and in every corner of the country. For this, tomatoes need to travel and that is possible only with refrigeration.  But somehow the assumption is that producer greed drove these developments. Yes, producers will pursue profit but they do listen to market signals. So if we are carrying home bags of big red tomatoes and trying to keep our balance as we wade through snow, then, tasteless tomatoes is what we will get. There is a disconnect from actual food production which creates unreasonable demands. We need to be reminded that in food, as in life, we cannot have it all.