EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT: Tomatoes By Anna Pursglove For You Magazine Published: 08:01 BST, 24 August 2024 | Updated: 08:01 BST, 24 August 2024 e-mail View comments Let me guess, TikTok has discovered the tomato. Full marks. Thus spawning a trend that has either the suffix ‘core’ or ‘girl summer’.
Welcome to ‘tomato girl summer II’. This suggests there was a ‘tomato girl summer I’. Correct.
You’ll find 2023’s ‘tomato girl summer’ was a sort of ambient Mediterranean thing. Think ripened vines in a heat haze, sun-baked clay pots and dusty leather. Dusty leather what? Mediterranean things.
Right. So what reignited the craze for summer 2024? Kendall Jenner in a red bodysuit, according to Cosmopolitan . Although if ‘woman wears red’ can spawn a resurgence, isn’t there a danger this thing will last for ever? I suppose so.
We’ll breathe our last with the words: ‘Thank god I can finally escape the tomatoes.’ Ah, but there have been other forces at work. Such as? The viral heirloom.
The what? The wavy-edged specimen that someone recently posted on X with the caption: ‘This tomato is so Loewe [pronounced low-eh-veh], I can’t explain it’ to which another user replied: ‘Don’t let Jonathan Anderson [creative director at the luxury brand] see this, he’s going to design a giant tomato purse.’ Did Anderson see the post? He did and he reposted it on Instagram, much to the delight of his followers who responded with comments like: ‘You say Loewe, I say Loewe’ and ‘Tomawe’. But he didn’t produce a giant tomato purse.
He did that, too – within 48 hours. Just knocked one up at the kitchen table, did he? No, obviously it was already in production, but that proves my point. What point is that? That tomatoes are in the ether.
They’re firmly enmeshed in the zeitgeist. They’re..
. ..
. best on toast? Glad you mentioned that. Keen not to be left at the back of the cultural salad drawer, Waitrose has just released a raft of statistics outlining their customers’ growing love affair with the fruit.
They’re berries, actually. Whatever. Searches for ‘tomatoes on toast’ are up 348 per cent.
What exactly do these culinary adventurers need help with: the tomatoes or the toast? Waitrose hasn’t said but the Daily Mail reports that Gen Z TikTok users are also trying to perfect the dish by employing a novel twist. By ‘novel twist’ you mean..
. Freezing the tomatoes. How innovative.
Do please give me the recipe. Take one tomato, freeze until solid, grate over toast, post on social media with the caption ‘tomato ice toast’. What kind of flavours are people reporting? Mostly ice.
I’m going to pass(ata) on that one, then. Is there another way I could salute the trend? You could try a fragrance. In fact, you join us at a pivotal moment in the tomatoey aroma arena.
How exciting. In 48 hours’ time, Malin + Goetz will release a tomato candle (£54) as a permanent part of its collection. Usually a summer limited edition, it sells out every year.
Do you have...
Hang on, I haven’t finished. On the same day it will also release a new tomato home spray (£48). It’s going to be quite an end to the month for the salad smells community.
Do you have any other hot tomato-based news? Yes, but you can’t tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me. Malin + Goetz will also have a tomato room in its London Soho store in September where customers get free bloody marys.
Now that does sound like a trend I can get on board with. How come you know about it? Heard it on the tomato vine. Share or comment on this article: EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT: Tomatoes e-mail Add comment More top stories.
