Farmscape's Dan Allen published an article today in the Huffington Post where he explains how the history of Prohibition can teach us about flavor and the future of tomatoe connoisseurs. Read the full article here. 

...and if you missed it, learn Dan's tips on the science of tasting here to start you on your path to being the Robert Parker of tomatoes.

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to [eat well],
The wretched [compost] of your teeming shore.
Send these, the home[stead]less, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my [trowel] beside the golden door!"

Two recent pieces of news have me wondering: what is the good life in 2012?

Almost ten thousand years ago, city-based society began in the fertile crescent. As the Mesopotamians worked to tame their food supply, they created field agriculture, constructed elaborate irrigation infrastructure, bred domesticated beasts to haul and toil, and developed techniques of food cultivation, storage, and distribution that lead to the implementation of currency. The benefits of technological harvests and surplus storage allowed society to specialize -- freed from hunting and gathering, many members of society could focus heavily on pursuits besides food acquisition and the food specialists could get better and better at producing and distributing food.