Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World: A History

Loved this book. Lots of information about the tomato. Am trying to grow the Marzano now. The industrial aspects, methods and history made it a real fun learning experience. Have sent some as gifts.

This book and William Alexander will take you from the Aztecs to Dominos to Campari tomatoes. If you love tomatoes (I do) or history (I do if it’s history that interests me), you’ll greatly enjoy this book. It was fascinating to read how the tomato finally became something gourmet and loved in Italy and the U.S.William Alexander did not cook in this book. There was no hilarious pursuit of gardening and cooking or language learning. There are a few super short mentions of his making pizza etc in the book but just a sentence sprinkled here and there. His kids and wife Anne are mostly missing. Indeed, I myself felt like William Alexander is mostly missing from the book.He’s still in the book of course since he is the writer, but he’s mostly just there as a narrator… a bit like a dry museum guide. This book is THE MUSEUM OF THE TOMATO FROM AZTECS TO BRANDYWINES.I learned quite a bit of new information. I just really missed William Alexander’s exploits and personality flooding the pages. No hijinks. No hilarity. No subdued hilarious sarcasm from his wife.I didn’t love this book as much as his past books. It was still a very good read. I very much recommend the book but not as your first book by him.I adore tomatoes. I loved learning the history of the tomato. I’ll be driving my husband crazy with littletidbits from this book over the coming summer months as we grow our own tomatoes (includingTommy Toe tomatoes my dad used to grow for me as a child in our garden in Tennessee).

Loving the historical aspect of this book! Very interesting.

The author takes a fun attitude in sharing the fascinating history of a vegetable(fruit?) we all take for granted. Its origins and migrations are very unexpected, and its history very much surprised me. Many aspects I took for granted turned out to be totally false. Very entertaining and I highly recommend!

Well-written and informative with a touch of humor throughout.

I now know more about tomatoes than I thought I'd learn from this book. And the author presented things in a knowledgeable yet sometimes humorous way.

Alexander’s books are Always well written, well researched, informative and entertaining

Fast shipping and great quality

Light humorous writing

I rather liked this book. Despite the title, it's not just a collection of ten unrelated bits: it's a history of the tomato, selective but coherent. Every one of the ten stories are interesting. The author's voice is light and engaging, and we are making discoveries together with him. You get a feel that the narrator is a real person, yet he does not overburden us with irrelevant details of his life.

I'm a big fan of William Alexander. I devoured 2 of his other books, 52 loaves and Flirting with French. Ten tomatoes I liked but did not devour. Maybe because I'm not a big History fan and this book has many facts. But it was a pleasant read nevertheless and I learned a lot. I would recommend this book for sure. I am also looking forward to his next book whatever the topic.

A well written and researched study of the Tomato, but very USA centred. This really could have been called "the history of tomatoes in the USA" with the rest of the world acting as the supporting cast. This is a shame as the tomato is a global food with a global history.

This book is very well researched and the author is a fantastic writer. Time to make myself a tomato sandwich!