2020-01-13 - Tomatoes

Someone recently asked me what kind of fruit I would be if I was a fruit and my automatic response was "Tomato" because that's always my response to questions about fruit. They were making a joke about bad pseudo-philosophical interview questions that are somehow supposed to provide insight about the perspective hire but I think the answer actually works for me.

The reason "Tomato" is my default response to questions about fruit is because a lot of people don't think of them as fruits.  The botanical definition of fruit is at odds with the culinary definition when it comes to tomatoes which sets up an interesting contradiction. I also find it interesting that most berries aren't berries and peanuts are closer to peas than nuts.

The other reason I replied with Tomatoes is because I actually like tomatoes. They taste good and can be used in a variety of ways. You can put tomatoes on sandwiches, tomato sauce is the basis for many pizzas and pastas. They are also used to make ketchup which can be put on anything from fries to liver.

So on the one hand tomatoes are a good fruit to represent me because I am a contrarian at heart. People say left and I think "What about right?". People say vegetable and that tomato goes "What about fruit?". I also try to be generally practical. I never want to be the person who goes "Nah, I can't do that" instead I want to be the person that goes "Yeah sure, I'll try that".

So if I was a fruit I would be a tomato, delicious and contentious.