Europeans once feared tomatoes were poisonous
For centuries, Europeans avoided tomatoes, believing their vibrant color signaled poison and blaming them for illnesses caused by lead-leaching pewter plates.
When tomatoes arrived in Europe from the Americas in the 16th century, they were met with fear. Europeans, unfamiliar with the new fruit, associated its bright red color with toxic nightshades like deadly nightshade. This misconception was worsened when the tomato's acidity reacted with pewter plates, leaching lead and causing illness wrongly blamed on the fruit itself.
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