store-bought tomatoes
I’ve enjoyed eating tomatoes my whole life. Only when I started growing tomatoes at home did I realize that all this time, I had been buying red-colored tomatoes, but they weren’t ripe like I thought.
The realization came when we picked a couple of homegrown orange-colored tomatoes and left them in a bowl. Two days later, they turned deep red and looked like the tomatoes I frequently bought at the produce market. As usual, they were a bit firm when I bit into them.
vine-ripened tomatoes
A few days later, we picked vine-ripened tomatoes and ate them right away. They were phenomenal! The flavor was a beautiful balance of sweet, sun-kissed, juicy, and crisp.
It made me realize that I had been fooling myself into thinking that store-bought red tomatoes were ripe. The difference between vine-ripened and store-ripened tomatoes was like a 20-year old and a 13-year old dressed up to appear 7 years older. The truth is obvious, if only you know to look and what to look for.
on the vine
The tomatoes made me think about dispelling fantasy with reality. Without an opportunity to grow my own tomatoes, how could I have realized that “ripe” produce is picked nearly-ripe and takes on a ripened appearance after traveling to the store? How can you know whether being a celebrity is fun like you’ve imagined, without becoming one? How can you know the truth about anything without experiencing it firsthand?
The information is all out there. Especially in this technological age, nothing in unknowable. You don’t have to join the mafia to know what it’s like. Read a book. Watch the Sopranos. Go on Reddit. Then when you fantasize about it the power and influence that comes with the mafia, don’t forget to include the stressful choices and heartbreak that come with it.
We all have our fantasies. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have them, for life would lose its color. But to be fair to yourself, do a little research before you fantasize. That way, at least your fantasy will be on the right track.
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