To-MAY-to...To-MAH-to

A couple weeks ago, I talked about picking your produce or rather, picking the kind of person who is looking for the same things you are looking for. Vegetables are the guys/girls who you only want to be friends with or who only want to be your friend. Fruits are the guys/girls who you have a reciprocal attraction to.  Both vegetables or fruits are created equally, but there is something and someone for everyone. However, if the goal is to find our frog prince/princess we will have to spend a great deal of time shopping for fruits, which brings me to the tomato.
In terms of produce, the tomato is without question the holy grail which resides at the nexus of what you need and what you want. The beauty of the tomato is that it has all the characteristics of a vegetable. Its often referred to as a veggie by cooks because of its savory flavor. However, if you ask any scientist, she will inform you that the lovely tomato is in fact fruit, as it is produced by a plant rather than being the plant itself.

Now before you assume I'm going off on a random scientific tangent, allow me refocus this information. The ideal mate, whatever that is for each of us, has to be a tomato. We need the characteristics that have made the vegetables solid friends that have been around for years, coupled with all the things that we loooove about fruits, including really liking the way they look. Fruit is too sweet and has too much sugar for us to eat all the time, but it just looks and tastes so dang good. As many of us now, everything that looks and tastes good, isn't always good for us! Tomatoes are just as fun to look at but we don't have to worry about getting a stomach ache because they have a savory foundation instead of  just some sweet flavor.

The biggest thing about tomatoes is that they will appear to be vegetables long before they show they're fruit tendancies, so you really have to scope out the situation. The tomato lives solely in the gray area, which is why they are the perfect balance of fruit and vegetable, friendship and forever. But it can sometimes be hard to discepher the tomato's intentions at first glance. There are a few signs that the carrot or brocolli you think you have may in fact be a tomato waiting for the opportunity to show his/her true self.

• If your conversations are a mix of the subject matter dicussed with your best homeboy/homegirl and favorite crush, it could be a tomato situation.
• If your carrot starts looking at you like you're a strawberry and you like it, it could definitely be a tomato situation.
• If you can discuss all the relationship stuff without the awkward silence or unnecessary bravado, it's probably a tomato situation.
• If you have made any plans for the future hypothetical or otherwise, go ahead and stamp it as a tomato situation!  

When the time is right and we make the decision to start shopping exclusively for fruit, the tomato is the way to go. There is a wide variety of tomatoes so finding a tomato doesn't necessarily mean it's the right kind for you, but at least you're in the right family so the battle is half won. Good luck, I hope we all find the right tomato!