Welcome to Erin Mankie's Cabinet of Curiosity's, a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm

and Mild.

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

And if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display,

just waiting for us to explore.

Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosity's.

For quite some time, there has been an ongoing debate as to whether a tomato is a fruit or

a vegetable.

Of course, it has long been established as a fruit, but there are still holdouts out there,

not unlike flat earthers, who cling to their antiquated beliefs that the tomato is a vegetable,

solely because it is often eaten among other vegetables.

But there was a time when the debate around tomatoes was much more venomous.

Tomatoes definitely got off to a bad start in history.

It all began when they were accused by a 14th century Catholic naturalist of being mandrakes

in disguise and thus condemned by God.

Things didn't get any better when tomatoes were first brought back from America by Cortez.

No one dared eat them because, well, no one knew what would happen if you did.

But then when someone did, it didn't go well.

People began to get sick from tomatoes, sometimes even dying.

The tomato was only partially at fault though.

You see the actual culprit was the tableware at the time, which was made a pewter containing

a remarkably high concentration of lead.

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