The tomato is a strange thing, because some call it a vegetable and some think it is a fruit. But to me, whether fruit or vegetable, above all else it is a memory of my childhood.
When I was small I used to go to the farm near my home to help harvest tomatoes. When we finished the work we each took a tomato and we squeezed it between our palms as a way of cleaning our hands.
I still love tomatoes. My favourite recipe is fanqie chaodan 番茄炒蛋，fried tomato with eggs. When they are fresh, tomatoes are always a little sour, but when you cook them like this, they become smooth and sweet.
Even now, when I see and smell tomatoes, I think of fanqie chaodan, and I start to salivate. Then I remember my childhood.
— Ten Tang
Image: Johann Heinrich Müller, 1825-1894: Pfirsiche und Tomaten. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
