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Article: Imagine a World Without Tomatoes
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- July 27, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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In the early 1500s, Cortez and the Spanish Conquistadores
conquered the Aztec empire with tomatoes.
Unknown in Spain (for that matter, in all of Asia and Europe),
tomatoes were plentiful in what is now Mexico. Cortez's army quickly
discovered that ripe, juicy tomatoes prevented scurvy and were an
excellent source of nourishment and water as they trooped into the
hot center of the country to battle with Montezuma.
During their war with the Aztecs, the Spanish learned that the
enemy also liked tomatoes. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a sergeant in
Cortez's army, wrote a journal in which he described an Aztec tomato
stew the other main ingredients of which were captured members of
Cortez's ...