People in the 1500s Thought Tomatoes Were Poisonous Because of Fancy Plates 🍅💀

Tomatoes Were Once Feared… Because Rich People Had Fancy Plates 🍅💀

Imagine a world where people thought tomatoes were deadly. Sounds dumb, right? Well, that’s exactly what happened in the 1500s—because rich people were out here poisoning themselves with their own fancy dishes.

🍽️ The Tomato Scandal

Tomatoes arrived in Europe from the Americas in the 16th century, but instead of enjoying some delicious marinara, people started dropping dead after eating them. Naturally, everyone freaked out and assumed tomatoes were tiny red murder fruits.

But here’s the twist: the tomatoes weren’t the problem, the plates were.

💀 The Real Culprit? Lead Poisoning

Back then, wealthy Europeans ate off pewter plates, which contained high amounts of lead. Turns out, tomato acid + lead plates = lead-infused death meal. So every time a rich person enjoyed a tomato dish, they were actually giving themselves lead poisoning. Oops.

Meanwhile, peasants who ate from cheap wooden plates were happily munching on tomatoes with zero issues. So yeah, the whole “tomatoes are toxic” thing? It was really just rich people poisoning themselves in the most elite way possible.

🍕 The Redemption Arc

Tomatoes finally made a comeback in the 18th century, when Italians realized they were actually delicious and turned them into the glorious pizza sauce we all love today.

So next time you bite into a slice of pizza, just remember: at one point, people thought this was basically a death sentence, all because they wanted to eat off fancy plates. 🤦‍♂️