The Great Tomato Famine of 2004
It made its way into my consciousness innocently enough, with a small hand-written sign posted on the counter of one of our favorite local Tex-Mex joints: "Due to increases in the price of tomatos, we will no longer be serving our world famous salsa." What we were served that night was thinner and less chunky but not bad.
I had suspected that something was afoot, as our local grocery store no longer stocked tomato soup, other than the watery version of Campbell's that we all had to eat during cold weather when we were kids. (The efficacy of that particular preventative application was never evident to me.)
Then, last week, the true seriousness of the situation was revealed, as one of our local TV stations ran the story as one of its top features during the 10:00 p.m. newscast: the Great Tomato Shortage of 2004 is upon us.
It seems that the hurricanes in Florida pretty much devastated a large portion of the nation's tomato supply, and prices have subsequently tripled or quadrupled. Some major fast food chains are starting to omit tomatos from their offerings, while others are reducing the quantity.
The most serious impact appears to be to our local Mexican cuisine, where the same restaurant which initially decided to use inferior salsa has now instituted a "pay-to-dip" policy where the good stuff is no longer free after the first bowl. This is an outrage. If I wanted treatment like that, I'd move to New Mexico, where free chips and salsa -- which are a constitutionally-protected right in the great state of Texas -- are generally placed on the menu under the "Appetizers" section and priced accordingly. I don't care if they do have tri-colored chips; that still doesn't justify having to pay for them.
Fortunately, tomatos are a fairly rapidly maturing crop and the shortage isn't expected to last more than a month or two. Until then, I may have to pack my own jar to satisfy my several-times-a-week Tex-Mex habit.
Note to self: dig up backyard, plant tomatos in April. Sell at top dollar to neighbors in July.
Posted by: Wallace-Midland, Texas at November 29, 2004 10:11 PMThe whole world is coming to an end. I've known it for years.
The cracks in our society keep getting wider and wider. More and more of the good things keep falling through and the sewage keeps bubbling up instead.
If the disappearance of delicious Sour Gummy Wallys wasn't bad enough, now it's tomatos.
I was never charged for salsa in New Mexico.
Posted by: Loren at November 30, 2004 06:47 AMMy salsa experience in New Mexico was always wonderful ... and free-of-charge ... (with a melancholy sigh of yearning for the enchiladas at The Shed in Santa Fe, or the carne adovada at Camino Real in Albuquerque)
Posted by: Jeff at November 30, 2004 09:41 AMJeff, how long has it been since you ate at The Shed? We were there last February, and they were charging. Same thing at the Guadalupe Café and just about everywhere else we ate.
Of course, some would contend that Santa Fe isn't really New Mexico.
Posted by: Eric at November 30, 2004 09:47 AMEric, the week between Christmas and New Years, 2003.
Maybe you were paying a special surcharge for Texans :-)
Posted by: Jeff at November 30, 2004 10:32 AMWe're having a hard time up here in The North, too. I have a decent supplier when times are good (another transplant from the SATX area) but that's been seeing huge price increases.
I've had to switch to tomatillo sauce for my tex-mex, which I suppose actually makes it new mex-mex.
The good news is that the hot-house, hydroponic tomatoes-on-the-vine are the same price as California unripened ones.
Manasclerk, there has been some increase on the produce shelves here, too. But I think they weren't quite as noticable since we're entering a time of year when produce prices go up a little anyway.
The story has actually been developing (nationally) for quite some time. I remember we ran a national package frpm Associated Press quite a while ago that talked about wholseale prices already being on the rise, and how some restaurant chains (Subway, Burger King, and others) were developing contingency plans for tomatoes-only-on-request, etc.
Tomato shortage notwithstanding, I hope all is well up in The North. Being a 'dang Yankee from back east' , there are some things I miss about that part of the country ... though I don't miss shoveling snow :-)
Posted by: Jeff at November 30, 2004 01:13 PMIn the Midwest, I have seen signs in several restaurants that are either not serving tomatoes at all or are warning that portions have been reduced.
Having to pay for salsa and chips... I think there is some law against that right? I hope it doesn't last long.
Posted by: Christopher at November 30, 2004 07:35 PMAbout the publisher
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I only hope that once the shortage is cured, the restaurants don't let the pay as you dip policy take hold. Anyway, it's past the prime tomato season, and I hate those old hothouse tasteless clods that have the audacity to pass as 'maters.
Posted by: Cowtown Pattie at November 29, 2004 09:06 PM