Dare I say it? Summer is all about the tomato! There is nothing better than a tomato fresh off the garden vine. That smell, that taste, those colors! Oh la la it’s a sensory experience to be had. We’ve loved seeing all the different tomato varieties at the Durham Farmer’s Market (they even had a tomato tasting a few weeks ago).

We’re not the only ones obsessing over summertime tomatoey goodness. Nashville has an annual Tomato Art Fest! If you happen to find yourself in Nashville this weekend be sure to check it out! You can view the ‘Biggest – Littlest – Ugliest Tomato Contest’, go bobbing for tomatoes, hear some tomato inspired poetry, and see tomato inspired art of all kinds!

Since we’ve been crushing (pun intended) on tomatoes lately we decided to make a little tribute video, demonstrating three ways to “prepare” a tomato. No culinary arts involved, but the music is suitably fresh and local; you can find the full song (“Frenchie”) on Durham’s own Beauty World‘s recently released self-titled album.

Have some fun with your food this weekend and soak in that sweet summertime flavor while you can! No matter how you swing it, a January tomato will never be a July tomato.

Oh, and speaking of tomato poetry…

Ode To Tomatoes
by Pablo Neruda
The street
filled with tomatoes,
midday,
summer,
light is
halved
like
a
tomato,
its juice
runs
through the streets.
In December,
unabated,
the tomato
invades
the kitchen,
it enters at lunchtime,
takes
its ease
on countertops,
among glasses,
butter dishes,
blue saltcellars.
It sheds
its own light,
benign majesty.
Unfortunately, we must
murder it:
the knife
sinks
into living flesh,
red
viscera
a cool
sun,
profound,
inexhaustible,
populates the salads
of Chile,
happily, it is wed
to the clear onion,
and to celebrate the union
we
pour
oil,
essential
child of the olive,
onto its halved hemispheres,
pepper
adds
its fragrance,
salt, its magnetism;
it is the wedding
of the day,
parsley
hoists
its flag,
potatoes
bubble vigorously,
the aroma
of the roast
knocks
at the door,
it's time!
come on!
and, on
the table, at the midpoint
of summer,
the tomato,
star of earth, recurrent
and fertile
star,
displays
its convolutions,
its canals,
its remarkable amplitude
and abundance,
no pit,
no husk,
no leaves or thorns,
the tomato offers
its gift
of fiery color
and cool completeness