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 Read the rest of this entry »