Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:48 — 12.7MB)
Every year in Salem New Jersey, Col Johnson sponsors the state fair. He is also responsible for bringing the tomato plant to America. He judges prize plants each year, and the plant is widely used as a decorative addition to American homes. However, the tomato itself, or love apple, as it is sometimes called, is thought to be poisonous.
CBS reporters take us to the festive atmosphere of the state fair as we learn why the tomato was thought to be deadly, the history of how the tomato was viewed by ancient cultures, how it travelled around the world, and some of the alternate motives for this stunt of eating the poisonous fruit in public. We learn that not everybody thinks the tomato is deadly, but the old Italian man who sticks up for the humble fruit is thought to be crazy, and imaginative.
The big moment arrives, and the good Colonel not only eats one, but four tomatos to the shock, and utter amazement of the crowd.
