The Tomatoes Are Coming, The Tomatoes Are Coming - Dr. Ed Iannuccilli

The Tomatoes Are Coming, The Tomatoes Are Coming - Dr. Ed Iannuccilli

I settled in my grandfather’s garden after playing stickball on a sizzling summer day in August. It was quiet. The quietness was delightful, and the smells of vegetables, apples, and cherries were captivating, but it was the awaiting tomato that was the attraction.

Grandpa’s garden smelled of earth, while the tomatoes had a sweet, woodsy smell of baking sun in early August. Save for my favorite limb on the apple tree where I was invisible, Grandpa’s garden, in the row between the tomato plants, was my spot.

I sat on the ground, just damp enough to cool me, but not so damp that my bottom got wet and itchy. I picked the reddest of the red, the softest of the soft, the warmest of the warm, the biggest of the big. I curved my fingers as if I were to throw a curve ball, but this day there was a different catcher, me, and my watering mouth. I sprinkled the warm tomato in my right hand with the shaker of salt in my left.

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With the first bite of that sunbaked delicacy, a strafe of juice and seeds barraged my white tee shirt and khaki shorts. But oh, that first bite; a blend of tastes difficult to describe . . . sweet, tart, tangy, mild. Maybe. But to me, it was and is the simple, dependable tomato flavor. In the quietness of this haven, my energy was renewed.

Why did this matter then? Why does this matter today?  Perhaps because the garden was a symbolic connection to the earth, to the plants, certainly the tomato, to grandpa, and to family. I feel the same today when I work in my garden. It is a place to disappear and to anticipate the gold of the tomato, the pomodoro, from pomo d’oro, the apple of gold. How fitting.

Why do I feel better after eating tomatoes? There is a bit of science. Tomatoes have anti-inflammatory properties and may be beneficial for heart and brain health. The tomato is a reliable source of potassium.

And there is a smidge of anecdotal evidence that tomatoes are high in mood enhancers like folate and magnesium. They contain iron, tryptophan, and vitamin B6; the main ingredients needed by your brain to produce mood-regulating neurotransmitters like serotonin.

But there’s more. The tomatoes kinda take over, invading your life both in and out of the garden. They are everywhere on these August days, and soon will be in jars so to make a winter appearance for the sauce, err gravy, of course.

The next time you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed, take some time to be still in your garden, or some garden. Clear your mind and focus on the earth around you. Nurture that space, and it will nurture you. You won’t regret it.

But, for me, the most important part of the experience of the tomato was that Grandpa’s garden just made me feel good and left me with a salad bowl full of memories.