Indian dishes see red without tomatoes

It takes a shortage to make Indians realise how much they love some things; the latest is the tomato, whose prices are rising yet again. To think that like the potato and chilli pepper, the tomato is also a foreign immigrant from the New World. Indeed, Indians of a particular vintage would recall that the tomato was once a seasonal vegetable — or fruit, if its botanical antecedents are accurately considered — instead of the indispensable staple it is today. Its arrival was welcomed but its longer absence was not particularly lamented. However, in the space of a few generations, the tomato has become indispensable for a host of perennial Indian dishes stretching from south — takkali rasam — to north — butter chicken. That is primarily because tomatoes add a perky tartness to dishes; but arguably, so do other desi ingredients like tamarind, kokum and even yoghurt. Yet, Indians stubbornly hanker after this newbie foreign flavour, instead of settling for a desi tang.

Indians should take heart that their tomato travails are not isolated: Nigeria is in deep tomato crisis thanks to the depredations of the leaf miner moth, an insatiable consumer of the scarlet orb — leaves, stem et al. In light of the tomato crisis, perhaps the residents of Buñol in Spain should consider forgoing their annual La Tomatina festival just this once and export their pulpy produce. Or should Indians and Africans rediscover the virtues of pre-Columbine veggies?