In September 2019, gave a sensory tasting of my tomato varieties to a group of Mexican Entrepreneurs came to Madrid for a week to attend conferences. It was very special because I surprised them by starting my “Tomato sensory journey” with a video illustrating the first journey the Tomato made 500 years ago on the ships of Hernán Cortés. The same trip they had just made the night before flying from Mexico to Madrid. Then I blindly transported them to the orchard with birdsong and the smell of green tomatoes and invited them to bite into an exceptional tomato. They loved it. They told me that they had never had such an experience and that I would be welcome to Mexico. This event marked the beginning of my great motivation to travel to Mexico in search of Jitomates Criollos and pre-Hispanic recipes. A dream that will come true in February 2020 just before COVID paralyzes the entire planet and forbids us to travel.
The path of tomatoes in the center of the table is more than 8 meters long. We combine the tomatoes with Dalias. I love this combination. The Dahlia, Mexico’s national flower, is a flower that, like the tomato, came to Europe from the New World and blooms in Europe at the same time that tomatoes ripen. Dahlias are, like tomatoes, a wonderful example of biodiversity due to their diversity of shapes and colors.
Most of the tomatoes on the table came directly from my small garden in the Alcarria and I supplemented them with delicious tomatoes from #lahuertadellugar.
Thanks to Nain Homes @nainhomes from Arounders who coordinated all the logistics of this event.
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Thanks to Jesus and Borja from Catering La Alacena for helping us with the set up and service of the lunch.
