The Tomato of the Year
by NigelA · 18 June 2026 · Cooking, Food & Lifestyle
2019: a Brandywine tomato, 847 grams, weighed three times. Neighbour Derek: not a proper tomato. Nigel: reasonable is not a horticultural standard. He eats half of it alone on the patio in August. Some things should be eaten alone. Derek's tomatoes: blemish-free and completely without flavour. He doesn't say this. He thinks it.
In 2019 I grew a Brandywine tomato that weighed 847 grams. I know this because I weighed it on the kitchen scales, three times, to be certain. My neighbour Derek said it wasn't a proper tomato. I said by what measure. He said by the measure that a tomato should be a reasonable size. I said reasonable was not a horticultural standard. He said he'd never seen a tomato that size at Sainsbury's. I said that was the point.
The 847-gram Brandywine tasted like what a tomato should taste like and almost never does — acidic and sweet at the same time, with a density to it, nothing watery. I ate half of it with salt and bread on the patio on a Tuesday afternoon in August while Janet was out, which felt correct. Some things should be eaten alone.
Derek's tomatoes that year were small and uniform and blemish-free and completely without flavour. I didn't say this. I thought it.
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