Why the Tomato Was Feared in Europe for More Than 200 Years

In the late 1700s, Europeans thought tomatoes were poisonous. Aristocrats got sick and died after eating them. It was later discovered that the pewter plates used by wealthy Europeans were high in lead content. The high acidity of tomatoes would leach lead from the plate, resulting in death from lead poisoning.

In 1597, the tomato was classified as deadly nightshade where the whole plant was toxic. This view prevailed in Britain and the British North American colonies for over 200 years.

Tomatoes were also thought to be eaten in hotter countries, like in Mesoamerica, where the tomato originates from.

The Aztecs ate tomatoes and called it the 'tomatl', but it wasn't grown in Britain until the 1590s, and then only for ornamental purposes. The tomato slowly became an acceptable edible fruit, but rumours of the plant's potential poison lingered despite the hundreds of tomato recipes that started to circulate.