this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2024
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[–] PugJesus 64 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Explanation: For almost 200 years, it was commonly believed that the tomato (a plant from the Americas) was poisonous, because it is a member of the Nightshade family. For that reason, it was grown in Italy primarily as an ornamental plant until the late 17th century.

[–] Shapillon 23 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

~~Well, tomato leaves (and iirc flowers) are indeed poisonous.~~

Tomoato leaves don't contain enough solanin to be toxic. I was fake news.

[–] mrsemi 8 points 3 days ago

Search around and you'll find that this is mostly just people repeating anecdotal evidence.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

A quick search says that that's at best a totally unsubstantiated rumor with little to no evidence supporting it

[–] kerrigan778 16 points 3 days ago

Also, every part of the tomato plant other than the ripe fruit is at least slightly poisonous.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] jaybone 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] foofiepie 2 points 3 days ago
[–] xploit 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

So there's a chance some starving Italians, who had nothing left to eat, decided to go for their sun dried ornamental tomatoes, putting olive oil and some herbs on them to try and save themselves from horrible flavour and....well it all makes sense now.

[–] PugJesus 19 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I always imagined it was more like "My dog got into the garden and ate like twenty of them and he survived, they can't be THAT deadly"

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

perché non entrambi?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

My dog is a lagotto romagnolo, and I can confirm that he loves to raid the garden for tomatoes and zucchinis.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Here in Brazil I've heard that wild tomatoes are poisonous.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Isnt it the same with other parts of the potato plant?