Taster’s Choice: Why I Hate Raw Tomatoes and You Don’t

All my life, I’ve been vaguely ashamed of my dislike, probably because it was such a profound disappointment to my mother, and naturally I craved her approval.

But no more! I just discovered that I am not alone in the blogosphere when it comes to hating raw tomatoes. Kylee Baumie of Living Green just came out of the closet as a “mater hater.” So did Steve Bender, a.k.a., the Grumpy Gardener, and Chris Tidrick, who blogs at From the Soil. They recently discovered their mutual dislike while at a Garden2Blog event in Arkansas. Like Chris, I, too, carefully remove all bits of tomato from food and leave it on the side of the plate. Solidarity!

We mater-haters have to stick together. As Grumpy notes, “Telling people you hate fresh tomatoes is like saying you hate giggling babies or that you loathe the prospect of world peace.”

Count me in this group. We should have t-shirts made.

I’m also sensitive to the bitterness in the foods Jennifer mentions, so it may be that I have that gene, too.