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Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World

A History

Contributors

By William Alexander

Formats and Prices

Price

$19.99

Price

$25.99 CAD

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around June 6, 2023. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

A WASHINGTON STATE BOOK AWARD FINALIST 

New York Times bestselling author William Alexander provides “an entertaining, broad-ranging history of the tomato” (Mark Pendergrast) in this fascinating and erudite microhistory.


The tomato gets no respect. Never has. Lost in the dustbin of history for centuries, accused of being vile and poisonous, subjected to being picked hard-green and gassed, even used as a projectile, the poor tomato has become the avatar for our disaffection with industrial foods — while becoming the most popular vegetable in America (and, in fact, the world). Each summer, tomato festivals crop up across the country; the Heinz ketchup bottle, instantly recognizable, has earned a spot in the Smithsonian; and now the tomato is redefining the very nature of farming, moving from fields into climate-controlled mega-greenhouses the size of New England villages. 

Supported by meticulous research and told in a lively, accessible voice, Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World seamlessly weaves travel, history, humor, and a little adventure (and misadventure) to follow the tomato’s trail through history. A fascinating story complete with heroes, con artists, conquistadors, and—no surprise—the Mafia, this book is a mouth-watering, informative, and entertaining guide to the food that has captured our hearts for generations.

  • "This spirit of curiosity proves an asset to Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World—the writer’s reactions and discoveries often seem to be simultaneous with those of the reader. Mr. Alexander holds forth with the goofy charm of a high-school math teacher—just swap out the trapezoid jokes for tomato puns—keeping his lessons droll, not dull ... I don’t know if even the most delicious summer tomato can explain our place on the planet. But knowing more about its improbable history makes every bite that much sweeter."
    The Wall Street Journal
  • "William Alexander takes readers on a world tour through history, from the tomato's regional origins in Mexico to its ubiquitousness in the present day. Along the way, his play sense of humor makes his book endlessly surprising."
    Bookpage, starred review
  • “Culinary history buffs will revel in the myriad anecdotes Alexander unearths here.”
    Booklist

On Sale
Jun 6, 2023
Page Count
320 pages
ISBN-13
9781538753330

Photo of William Alexander

William Alexander

About the Author

William Alexander, the author of two critically acclaimed books, lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. By day the IT director at a research institute, he made his professional writing debut at the age of fifty-three with a national bestseller about gardening, The $64 Tomato. His second book, 52 Loaves, chronicled his quest to bake the perfect loaf of bread, a journey that took him to such far-flung places as a communal oven in Morocco and an abbey in France, as well as into his own backyard to grow, thresh, and winnow wheat. The Boston Globe called Alexander “wildly entertaining,” the New York Times raved that “his timing and his delivery are flawless,” and the Minneapolis Star Tribune observed that “the world would be a less interesting place without the William Alexanders who walk among us.” A 2006 Quill Book Awards finalist, Alexander won a Bert Greene Award from the IACP for his article on bread, published in Saveur magazine. A passion bordering on obsession unifies all his writing. He has appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition and at the National Book Festival in Washington DC and is a frequent contributor to the New York Times op-ed pages, where he has opined on such issues as the Christmas tree threatening to ignite his living room and the difficulties of being organic. Now, in Flirting with French, he turns his considerable writing talents to his perhaps less considerable skills: becoming fluent in the beautiful but maddeningly illogical French language.

Learn more about this author