Tomatoes Travels - Part 1
By Kira Hamman
Des Moines, Iowa
Everything is bigger in Iowa.
I know Texas claims this distinction, but they’re wrong – it’s really Iowa that has the biggest of everything.
It’s just that the self-effacing Midwesterners are too polite to contradict the cowboys to the south, so for the most part they keep this fact to themselves.
But drive across I-80 from Davenport to Council Bluffs and you’ll see the truth. Not only will you pass, among other things, the largest truck stop in the world and a 20-foot statue of a dairy cow with her calf, but you’ll go right by some of the largest tomatoes in the country. One-pound tomatoes are routine, and one-and-a-half pounders are not all that unusual.
Iowans take their tomatoes seriously (well, they take a lot of things seriously, but that’s another story). Take the Iowa State Fair, for example. Iowans from all over the state come to Des Moines each summer to show off their tomatoes here. Competition for the largest and best-tasting tomatoes is fierce, and to win a prize here earns a gardener bragging rights for many years to come.
Tomato recipes, tomato artwork, and tomato growing tips join the tomatoes themselves as subjects of intense scrutiny. Heirloom versus hybrid arguments replace the Obama versus Clinton discussions that took place here mere months ago, and the results of the vote are at least as eagerly anticipated.
Maybe it’s the famous Midwestern black gold soil. Maybe it’s the work ethic of the gardeners, who probably go out and pick borers off by hand before sunrise every day. Maybe there is (or is not) something in the water. Whatever it is, Iowa tomatoes are a sight to behold, and a treat to eat.
Next stop: Springfield, Illinois. Did Abraham Lincoln eat tomatoes?
June 19th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I tomato road trip, who’d a thunk it. Great post.