What is a tomato? Is it a fruit or a vegetable? These are some of the first existential questions we must ask ourselves as children. Also, it is technically a fruit but is never paired with other fruits. 

For example, you would never put tomatoes in a fruit salad but would put them in a Caesar salad. Tomatoes often pair best with other vegetables in foods such as soups, salads and pasta. 

In fact, I find tomatoes much better when they aren’t cooked into something but instead paired with it, like when they are a part of bruschetta and Caprese salad. In fact, a lot of Italian recipes have, in my opinion, the best use of tomatoes. 

I suppose that’s a given when you consider they also have dishes such as gazpacho, any pizza and pasta with tomato sauce. All the various ways it can be used make it one of my favorite foods, which up until recently I thought was a common statement. 

Tomatoes truly are extremely versatile and can be used for almost anything. I share this sentiment with my grandmother who is an amazing woman and an even more incredible cook. She is also not threatening to withhold Thanksgiving dinner from me if I don’t write this statement. 

However, there have been hints to me here and there that the tomato may not be as popular a food as I thought it was, but I didn’t put two and two together until very recently. I found out that both my roommate and my best friend do not like tomatoes. 

I saw this as blasphemous at first but then I realized I may be a little too obsessed with tomatoes. I am one of the few people who eat big tomatoes like they are apples if that gives any indication of how much I love them. 

Either way, this seemed like an odd opinion to me, so I dug deeper. It seems the most off-putting part about tomatoes to others can be their slimy texture, which I suppose I can understand. 

I am not a particularly picky eater but I can see how a tomato’s violently red color and gooey insides may be a little off-putting for someone, especially during the Halloween season. 

My roommate admitted, though, that she does enjoy tomatoes when they are in a dish with something else, which I do agree makes dishes taste a bit better. Still, I think more people should appreciate tomatoes. 

And no, I don’t count liking ketchup the same as liking tomatoes. Tomatoes and ketchup are about as similar as a slice of cheese and a slice of cheesecake. 

Yes, technically cheese is an ingredient for cheesecake, but then someone completely altered its texture and shape and covered it in a pound of sugar. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I really like ketchup, but don’t I understand why more people prefer to have ketchup on their burgers than they do tomatoes. 

I’ve worked at McDonald’s for over two years now, and I’ve seen some strange requests like big Macs without the middle bun or egg McMuffins with onions, but nothing puzzles me more than when people take tomatoes off their Quarter Pounders but leave the ketchup.

I truly don’t understand kids these days. 

That being said, I don’t hate ketchup, and I understand everyone has different preferences. If the existence of ketchup is what helps people further appreciate tomatoes, then I’m okay with it. But I’m going to defend the deliciousness of tomatoes until the day I die.

Liz Curtin can be reached at [email protected].