River Tomato

In the Danube Delta the river moves the land. Every spring the floods shift the sandbanks, and fishing families plant tomatoes on whatever new ground the water leaves behind. River Tomato is the variety they plant: heavily ribbed, deep red and soft-skinned, a tomato that would never survive a truck but tastes of the place it grows.

Dorin Matei, whose family has fished the delta for generations, keeps it in a garden reachable only by boat. He sends us seed every autumn, rolled in newspaper and tied with fishing line.

The river moves the sand every spring. The tomatoes move with it.

Its soft skin and short shelf life are exactly the traits commercial breeding removed from the tomato. What it kept in exchange is flavor. It is one of the most requested varieties in the library.