The Gestalt of the Tomato: Caprese Parfaits
August 20, 2011 in Appetizers, Gluten Free, Healthy Fare, Vegetarian Entrees
Caprese Parfaits
For years, like many members of the last few factory-farmed, shrink-wrapped, additived-and-preservatived generations, I thought I detested fresh tomatoes. Mealy and bland, almost always refrigerated, only acceptable in thoroughly stewed or sauced form. My mom used to nostalgically describe picking tomatoes as a child, out of my grandma’s garden in upstate New York, and eating them like apples. I could hardly imagine anything more revolting at the time.
Now, of course, we’ve all become much more sophisticated, in our current local, sustainable, seasonal collective consciousness. We know that what we really loathed were the out-of season supermarket imposters, mass-produced and shipped thousands of miles to your January attempt at a salad (probably involving iceberg lettuce, which, I notice, is making an odd sort of comeback; perhaps it’s ironic, the produce equivalent of a hipster’s PBR). A truly fresh tomato, procured in its natural habitat and life cycle, that is a completely different experience.
I can think of no better expression of Tomato, its essence, the thing-in-itself, than the caprese salad. Read the rest of this entry →
