The latest outbreak of salmonella via tomato this time has a certain irony to it, not of course to those ill with salmonella cause that’s just awful, but in general there is a level of intellectual irony. (Uh, oh! GEEK ALERT!)

It’s ironic because of a random factoid that influenced eating habits relating to the tomato— the British believed that for many years the tomato was poisonous (largely) because of work based on the work of one grower in the early 1600’s. For well over a hundred years the tomato was considered unfit for eating in England, America and many other British colonies.

By the way, this guy with the tomatoes is pretty scary looking. Good advertising to keep people away from the tomatoes, I guess.