Professor Gentilcore commented: "'Pomodoro! A history of the tomato in Italy' is more than just a history of the tomato. From the start, the tomato was closely linked to food ideas and habits.

"It also became closely associated with other foodstuffs, pizza and pasta being only the most obvious. Finally, the tomato's uses were continually subject to change, from production, through to exchange, distribution and consumption.

"For all of these reasons, the tomato is ideal for understanding the prevailing values, beliefs, conditions and structures in the society of which it was a part, and how these change over the course of the centuries."

'Pomodoro! A history of the tomato in Italy' by Professor David Gentilcore, is published by Columbia University Press and is part of a research project into the reception and assimilation of New World plants in Italy, from 1500 to the present, funded by a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship.

Source : Columbia University Press