Tomatoes were used in Mayan recipes about 1,000 years before Italy even saw them:


The tomato is actually original to South America. It wasn't until the Spanish colonization of the Americas that the tomato was spread to other parts of the world. The earliest mention of tomatoes in European literature was in 1514. It was described as a 'golden apple.'


The plant was most likely first domesticated in Mexico. It is said that the people of Pueblo thought that those who saw the ingestion of tomato seeds were blessed with the power of divination.
The first tomatoes probably looked a lot more like yellow cherry tomatoes, and then became the plant we know today.

Technically the tomato is a fruit, but for culinary purposes it is regarded as a vegetable. Peru is where the tomato originates, but one species was transported to Mexico, too. The term tomato comes from the Nahuatl language meaning 'the swelling fruit.'