My friend Nina and I share a garden. Yesterday we were both out in the sunshine harvesting some vegetables. "Oh no," Nina cried as she held out her hand with two tomatoes in it. I knew what she was thinking. They were the ugliest tomatoes you have ever seen. They were a brownish, greenish color. They were bumpy and lumpy and speckled. Gnarly looking little monsters. We aren't use to seeing our tomatoes that way. In this country we grow our tomatoes for show. They are unnaturally smooth and firm and plump, like many of the women here in LA. It makes them hardy travelers, which is good since they are often shipped thousands of miles out of season - the tomatoes, I mean. I'm not sure about the women. By focusing on external beauty alone we end up with nice, round, shiny, firm tomatoes that have no soul. Bite into one of these conventional types and you might as well be eating cardboard. READ MORE...