You Say "Tomato, "I Say "Deadly Poison"

Summary: Legend has it that a hardy Colonel named Robert Gibbon Johnson, tired of his superstitious and uninformed countrymen's refusal to touch or eat tomatoes, sat in front of the Salem, New Jersey Courthouse with a basket full of the little red fruits. To the shock, horror, and eventual awe of the 2,000 person crowd, he consumed every last tomato without dropping dead. Of course this isn't true, nor are any other claims of American leeriness of tomato consumption.

Legend has it that a hardy Colonel named Robert Gibbon Johnson, tired of his superstitious and uninformed countrymen's refusal to touch or eat tomatoes, sat in front of the Salem, New Jersey Courthouse with a basket full of the little red fruits. To the shock, horror, and eventual awe of the 2,000 person crowd, he consumed every last tomato without dropping dead. Of course this isn't true, nor are any other claims of American leeriness of tomato consumption. But there are plenty of foods we don't eat because we think they're bad for us when in reality they're not. Let's take a trip down memory lane and look at some misunderstood foods! The Egg: harbinger of doom? The humble egg, a baking and dietary staple nearly everywhere on earth, has hit its share of rough times. Though it's an incredible source of protein and choline, an egg's yolk also contains a large amount of cholesterol-cholesterol which was thought to be utterly terrible for the body. However, there's endless dissent, with some researchers claiming that an egg's cholesterol actually lowers "bad" cholesterol and raises "good" cholesterol, with other scientists claiming the opposite. Combine this hotly-contested nutritional value with the salmonella scare (how many times did mom tell you not to eat cookie dough?) and you get one woeful reputation for such a delicious and useful food. Sure, you shouldn't pig out on eggs every day, but by using them properly you can enjoy the taste-and the protein-without having to resort to egg whites in a carton! Some good egg recipes include: Scrambled Eggs in Baby Brioches with Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Eggs Sardou Egg Puff-Muffins Old-Fashioned Egg Noodles Coffee: those jitters are just the caffeine. You remember the turning point. Suddenly health experts everywhere started talking about the perils of coffee and the dangers of caffeine. Gloomily, coffee drinkers everywhere switched to decaf or learned to get more sleep at night (God forbid). But while too much coffee is certainly bad for your health (go here to see some alternatives), drinking a moderate amount actually helps with more than your fatigue! Coffee is rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and other important nutritional components. Drinking three to five cups daily, researchers say, can lower the risk of Alzheimer's, kidney stones, Parkinson's, depression, and suicide. And to think, it keeps you awake, too! Chocolate: well, maybe... The bane of overindulgent foodies and fat kids everywhere, our favorite sweet has caught a bad rap, but is it fully deserved? The jury's still out on this one, because while studies have shown chocolate has a positive effect on HDL cholesterol and plenty of antioxidants, it's still, well, chocolate. Just like red wine, chocolate can offer some nice health benefits, but make sure you moderate intake. A few ounces per week ought to do it! Try some of these chocolate recipes: Chocolate Chestnut Mousse Easy Chocolate Truffles Chocolate Brownies German Chocolate Martini But of course, while we've certainly got some much-maligned foods given an unfair rap by the public, there are other foods. Wolves in sheep's clothing, if you will. These started out "healthy," but eager consumers got more than they bargained for. It's fascinating, watching the tide turn from public approval to public shun. First on the list and perhaps most infamous is