Hi, Shrewd!        Login  
Shrewd'm.com 
A merry & shrewd investing community
Best Of STEMBest OfAll BoardsThe Shrewd’m WeeklyLearn to InvestHow to Become Shrewd
Search
Shrewd'm.com Merry shrewd investors
Search
Best Of STEMBest OfAll BoardsThe Shrewd’m WeeklyLearn to InvestHow to Become Shrewd


The week's question
In December 2024, in the thread "Re: BRK: Why Not XOM?", BreckHutHigh asked the members: "What about the long road trips with kids?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
Answer this questionContinue to Shrewd'mThis note won't appear again
Outskirts of Shrewd'm / Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (9) |
Author: Goofyhoofy 🐝 HONORARY
SHREWD
  😊 😞

Number: of 311 
Subject: Re: why you can eat tomatoes
Date: 02/24/25 8:55 AM
Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!
No. of Recommendations: 3
Since some people won’t drill down to the article, much less the embedded link in the article, I’ll just note that tomatoes were actually poisonous at one time. They got that reputation - and deserved it - because during the early Roman republic food was served on Pewter plates, occasionally simple lead. Both metals were simple to work with, melted at low temperatures, and made fine dining ware and were easily decorated.

Unfortunately the acids in tomatoes reacted with the metals and turned the tomatoes served thereon into something which would, over time, poison you. That is the reason that they acquired the reputation, and it was real, but the reputation lingered long after pewter and lead plates went out of fashion. In fact there are reports of people dying of hunger during various famines, even as wild tomatoes grew nearby in fields and forests: the reputation was so stark that nobody would touch them, and they didn’t understand the mechanism by which they had become “poison.”

Science. It’s a wonderful thing, but sometimes it doesn’t show up in time.
Post New | Post Reply | Report Post | Recommend It!
Print the post
Members reply directly to Goofyhoofy here — and replies get answered. Reading is free; so is joining the conversation. Join Shrewd'm »
Unthreaded | Threaded | Whole Thread (9) |


Announcements
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics FAQ
Contact Shrewd'm
Contact the developer of these message boards.

Best Of STEM | Best Of | Favourites & Replies | All Boards | Followed Shrewds | Open Questions | Moving a community