Ever heard of “Wine Tomatoes”?

Well now you have. “Tomatoes on the Vine”: popularised by the the mainstream supermarkets like Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Sainsbury and Safeway etc. - they are coming soon to an Asian grocer near you. Only - they can’t seem to spell it correctly! (Or more likely - they cannot pronounce it correctly.)

Yes - like “corn-fed” chicken before it - “Wine Tomatoes” are twice as expensive as the bog standard tomatoes - only you now have the inconvenience of having the stalk still attached to them. Logic gone wrong somewhere - especially for what you might call “savvy” Asian shoppers. But no - visit the main fruit and veg stalls of Ealing Road in Wembley and you will find that “Wine Tomatoes” are all the rage - and the bad spelling appears to be contagious - all the traders seem to be spelling it that way!

The really savvy amongst us know better:

• Asian people cannot distinguish between the letter “V” and the letter “W” !! :-)
• “Wine Tomatoes” are no different to “regular” tomatoes. They just cost twice as much.
• The stalk connecting up all the “wine” tomatoes usually gets thrown in the bin.

Nuff for now.

“You like tomato and I like tomahto
Potato, potahto, Tomato, tomahto …“
From the 1937 RKO Picture “Shall We Dance”
Music by George Gershwin; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Performed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers