Subject: Re: Potatoes

From: [email-masked] (Jane Beckman)
Date: 20 May 93 20:55:54 GMT

Heck, of even less antiquity, my father (first generation born
outside Finland) thought tomatos were poisonous, and he only
died in 1989.  He compromised on spaghetti sauce, as he
figured the cooking probably denatured the toxins, but he
swore that "humans were not meant to be able to deal with raw
tomatos."  Said it made you bloat and get sick.

I have an 1860's book that insists tomatos will make your
teeth loosen and fall out!

I don't think any of these were "mainstream American" beliefs
much later than the late 1700's, or there wouldn't be so many
tomato recipes in the cookbooks.
--
  Jilara   [[email-masked]]

"Every now and then, a big rock falls out of the sky, and everyone has 
a *very bad* day."  --from the PBS "Dinosaurs" special.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 21 May 93 16:26:58 -0600

> teeth loosen and fall out!

Interesting... since that's a symptom of scurvy, vitamin C deficiency...
and tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C.

Kay Klier