In Episode 407 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger travel to Newport, Rhode Island, to meet artist Michele Felice Cornè, the man who introduced the tomato to the diets of Newport in the early 1800s. Before Cornè, everyone knew the tomato was poisonous… right?! His former home still stands in town. We explore the story!
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Produced and hosted by: Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger
Edited by: Ray Auger
Theme Music by: John Judd
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
*A note on the text: Please forgive punctuation, spelling, and grammar mistakes. Like us, the transcripts ain’t perfect.
RAY: Nice garden, Jeff!
JEFF: Thanks! I do it every year. I always start in the spring with so much ambition. Imagining that I could be a farmer post-apocalypse.
RAY: Yeah, I’m sure you’ll do great.
JEFF: At least the tomatoes are coming in nicely. Even I can’t mess that up.
RAY: I LOVE garden fresh tomatoes!
JEFF: Me too.
RAY: There’s nothing like them. John Denver even wrote a song called “Home Grown Tomatoes.” A little salt and pepper… the best!
JEFF: I agree. It’s why we do the work each summer. Do you… ahhh… want one Ray?
RAY: Sure! They look great.
JEFF: Are you sure?
RAY: I think so… why?
JEFF: There was a time not that long ago when people thought tomatoes were poisonous.
RAY: Come onnnnn.
JEFF: They did. They were sure of it. So today we’re heading to Newport, Rhode Island, to meet the man who convinced New England and really America that tomatoes… are delicious.
[INTRO]
JEFF: I’m Jeff Belanger. Welcome to Episode 407 of the New England Legends podcast.
RAY: And I’m Ray Auger. Thanks for joining us on our mission to chronicle every legend in New England one story at a time. We love weird history, haunts, UFOs, roadside oddities, and all the other wicked strangeness that makes New England like no other place. If you’ve got a story lead for us, please reach out to us anytime through our website. Most of our story leads come from you.
JEFF: We’ll go searching for the man who introduced us to the tomato right after this word from our sponsor.
SPONSOR
[DRIVING IN CAR]
JEFF: As I mentioned, our destination is Newport, Rhode Island, today.
RAY: It’s going to be crowded on a nice summer day like today.
JEFF: It will be. All the restaurants, bars, and beaches will be packed with tourists taking in the summer scene. But we’ll be away from the center of town on a side street. Okay, make a right up here onto Corne Street.
[BLINKAH]
RAY: Okay. This is a tiny street.
JEFF: It is. You can park anywhere you find a spot.
RAY: Got it.
[CAR STOPS / DOORS]
[WALKING ON STREET]
JEFF: And we’re going to take a short walk here to the end of the street.
RAY: Why would people think tomatoes were poisonous?
JEFF: Back in the 1700s, European aristocrats often ate off of pewter plates which have a high lead content. When tomatoes migrated from Italy to other parts of Europe, they were served on these pewter plates, the high acidity of the fruit leached the lead from the plates. The aristocrats ate the tomato and some of them got sick from the lead. Word soon spread it was the tomato’s fault.
RAY: But meanwhile, it was the pewter plate that was the problem.
JEFF: Right. And here’s our destination at the corner of Corne and Mill Streets.
RAY: We’re standing in front of a beige colored two-and-and-half story house located right off the street. There’s a red door at the main entrance and a cute fenced-in yard behind the house.
JEFF: And if you read the historic sign on the side of the house…
RAY: Oh right. It says: Corne House. Home of the artist Michel Felice Corne.
Michelle (like the girl’s name) Felice Corne (like corn on the cob)
JEFF: That’s our guy. To find out the monumental contribution he made to salads and lots of other dishes everywhere, let’s head back to the year 1822.
[TRANSITION]
RAY: It’s August of 1822 here in Newport, Rhode Island. This young nation is still growing. James Monroe is President of the United States, Boston, Massachusetts, officially incorporated as a city earlier this year, and Newport is still a bustling harbor town. Recently, there’s been a newcomer. An artist named Michele Felice Cornè.
JEFF: Cornè was born on the Island of Elba, Italy, back in 1752, but he grew up in Naples. He was drafted into the Neapolitan Army in the late 1700s to help keep the French out of Italy. In the year 1800, he fled Italy and first settled in Salem, Massachusetts. He quickly became a renowned painter in the region.
RAY: Cornè often paints depictions of battles and wars from Europe and the Americas. One of his most famous works is a large panoramic painting 10 feet high and 60 feet long titled “Bombardment of Tripoli” commemorating America’s victory in the first Barbary War in the Mediterranean. His works are displayed in various galleries and even in the Concert Hall in Boston.
JEFF: His paintings are impressive. Few will argue that. But he does have a certain habit that his friends and neighbors find repelling.
RAY: What’s that?
JEFF: He loves tomatoes.
RAY: Tomatoes?!
JEFF: I know, right?! Around Salem and Boston, everyone thinks it’s disgusting even dangerous. Doesn’t Michele Corne know tomatoes are poisonous?!
RAY: People have been growing tomatoes in the region for a while. Some people call them “Love Apples.” They’re prized for their beauty and bright red colorful fruit. But yeah. Everyone knows they’re poisonous. Maybe Corne is immune?
JEFF: Corne tires to explain they’re not poisonous at all. That he grew up in Italy eating them his whole life. But no one cares to hear it. They figure he’s just a quirky artist and is probably lucky to be alive considering he’s eating these things.
RAY: Corne moved around New England all the while painting, and eating his home-grown tomatoes in the summer. Grossing friends and neighbors out along the way.
JEFF: Now that’s it’s 1822, Corne has moved into his new home in Newport, Rhode Island. He’s got a fine house with a nice little yard. It’s perfect for his tomato garden in the summer.
RAY: Just like everywhere else he’s lived in New England, the folks in Newport turn their noses up at the idea of tomatoes. Everyone seems to know these things are poisonous. Everyone… except maybe Michele Corne.
JEFF: However, all summer some of his new friends and neighbors have seen Corne eating tomatoes almost daily. He explains that everyone seems to love potatoes that grow in the dark and they have no flavor. But the tomato grows in the sunshine above ground and tastes divine. He offers them to anyone who asks about them, but folks remain skeptical. Until one day, one neighbor gets curious… I mean, Corne has been eating them all summer and he seems okay. And if he’s really been eating them since his childhood, then maybe they’re not poisonous… right?
[EATING TOMATO]
JEFF: Sure enough, the bright red fruit tastes pretty darn good. After waiting a few hours and feeling no worse for the wear, this neighbor thinks maybe tomatoes are okay. Good even.
RAY: Corne tosses a dash of salt on the cut-up tomato slices, and pretty soon, others start to sample the goods. By the end of the summer… the people of Newport are sold on tomatoes.
[SPRING SOUNDS]
RAY: In the coming Springs, tomato gardens start to pop up around Newport for more than just decoration. Word is spreading that the tomato is delicious. Also, the climate of Newport is close enough to Italy that they grow pretty well here. Tomatoes are hearty plants. They can adapt. Pretty soon, word spreads beyond Newport and even beyond Rhode Island. In fact, one man down in a plantation in Virginia is also growing and eating tomatoes. He seems to have started around the year 1808. That man’s name is Thomas Jefferson.
JEFF: THAT Thomas Jefferson?
RAY: Yeah, that one. Between Jefferson and Corne, the tomato is soon adopted by not just New England, but the United States.
JEFF: Michele Corne is pleased his favorite fruit is getting more attention. He’s credited with introducing the tomato to America. It’s what he’s best-known for… which is a bummer because he’d rather be known for his paintings. Still, it’s nice to be known. Corne also explains to his friends that back in Italy, they would bake flatbreads and put toppings on them like sliced tomato, maybe even melted cheese. Back in Naples, they call this crazy dish… pizza.
RAY: Everyone in Newport has a good laugh at THAT idea. Tomatoes and cheese on bread? Ewww. As if anyone would ever want that. (BEAT) And that brings us back to today.
[TRANSITION]
JEFF: Yeah… who would EVER want pizza?
RAY: I do. Pretty much all the time.
JEFF: I’m right there with you. Pizza didn’t really arrive in America until the 1890s and came over with waves of Italian immigrants. I looked this up. The first documented use of the word pizza was in the year 997 in Lazio, Italy. It was very much an Italian dish before it spread.
RAY: Bread has been around for many thousands of years. So that was already here. But you can’t have pizza with tomatoes and tomato sauce.
JEFF: Right. You definitely need to get over any fear of tomatoes to reach the climax that is pizza. Also, one of the other problems with the tomato is that it can be messy. The middle class in the United States didn’t really use table forks until the 1800s. They mostly ate with their hands. So pasta and sauce is no good without a fork.
RAY: Standing here today in front of his house on Corne Street in Newport—a street named after the man—it’s humbling to think we’re at ground-zero for the tomato in America. Reading the rest of the sign makes sense now. It says: Corne House. Home of the artist Michel Felice Corne, who introduced the tomato into this country.
JEFF: Today this home is a private residence, but you can read the sign from the sidewalk. I feel like there’s a lesson in here somewhere.
RAY: Go ahead and eat any bright colored berries or fruit you may find in the world?
JEFF: Maybe not that. I recall hearing an interview with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. I’m paraphrasing, but he said many people think of earth as this amazing oasis and lush garden for all living things. But we forget there’s as many things on this planet that will kill you as will sustain you. We’ve just learned over countless generations what mostly works and what doesn’t. Still, I can’t imagine a salad, or a pizza, or a summer… without tomatoes.
[OUTRO]
RAY: Amen to that. And NOW I’m dying for some pizza. But first, After the Legend where we take a deeper dive into this week’s story and sometimes veer off course.
JEFF: After the Legend is brought to you by our Patreon Patrons. If you love our show, please thank a patron. Or even better, become a patron! They help us with all of our hosting, production, travel, and marketing costs. All we ask is just $3 bucks per month – though some choose to give a little more. And for that you’ll get early ad-free access to new episodes, our entire archive of shows, plus bonus episodes and content that no one else gets to hear. Please head over to patreon.com/newenglandlegends to sign up.
To see some pictures related to this week’s story, click on the link in our episode description, or go to our website and click on Episode 407.
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Until next time remember… the bizarre is closer than you think.