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I'm with you on the raw tomatoes...I love tomato sauce, ketchup, pretty much anything with cooked tomatoes, but I can't stand them raw! I'm willing to admit that it might be that I've never had a good tomato, but how many do I have to try before I et the right one?

I have a tenuous relationship with tomatoes. I always loved tomato based products as a kid (tomato sauce, ketchup) but could not stand to even be near an actual tomato. I refused to eat them in my sandwich, in my salad, on my burger - under no circumstances would I ever eat a raw tomato. Once I saw my friend snacking on a whole one, as if it were an apple, I nearly gagged right there. But as I grew into adulthood, I began slowly allowing tomatoes in certain forms into my dishes. I found I love cooked tomatoes in my omelets, and in my pasta. I realized a thin slice of tomato in my sandwich isn't the worst thing. Mostly I allowed it for its health benefits. I never requested tomato but if my sandwich came with some, I'd allow it to stay whereas when I was a kid, I'd pick it out. Then I realized, how much I loved home made salsa. Store bought salsa in a jar is basically ketchup, but real salsa is just mostly chopped up tomato! And I was amazed to see that I liked it! Things started changing. Now I find that I can eat - and sometimes love raw tomatoes. The other day I ate a slice of tomato with pesto spread on it. I actualy called my tomato-loving friend to tell her . She congratulated me. She was so proud.

I still would never eat a tomato like an apple. *shudder*

I credit Ruby Tuesdays (I KNOW) for opening the door to tomatoes (raw) for me. On a very emotionally bad day, I ate a burger there and they had Roma tomatoes on them that were incredibally ripe and flavorful and I did not have the strength to remove them. Awesome! No more ketchup for me, although I am choosy about the tomatoes...no 'mato is better than bad 'mato.

First the late blight and now this? Way to kick tomatoes while they're down, 'Boppy. >:-(

I can't understand tomato hate. I love tomatoes in any form!

I would join a cantaloupe haters group though! Yuck!

My people! I'm totally in the "any form but raw" crowd. And the reality is, I'm never going to find the "right tomato" to bring me around, because it's not a flavor issue for me. It's all about texture. Those horrible seeds, and that awful slime that surrounds them will kill even the most perfect ripe flavorful tomato.

And Kev, I'm with you - I have no problem just picking them off a salad (or eating around them), and as long as *I* am not making a big deal about it, I don't see why anyone else feels the need to.

I won't eat raw ones. I can detect a piece of raw tomato no bigger than my pinkie fingernail mixed into a burrito, and it's really vile. When I was a kid, McDonald's won my heart strictly because the Quarter Pounder didn't come with tomato, so I had the luxury of not dissecting a hamburger before eating it.

Sun-dried tomatoes are a favorite of mine; I eat them like candy. Tomato sauces are fine, broiled tomatoes are fabulous, it's just the raw ones.

And, yes, I actually HAVE tried wonderfully ripe fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes. They are disgusting.

I wouldn't eat a tomato until I was 18. Now, I can't get enough of them.

For lots of people it must be not having had a fresh tomato. I grow a dozen varieties every year, but have come to prefer sun golds, little fruity tangerine cherries that are so sweet it's like eating candy to sit down with a bowl of them (or eat them off the vine, which I'm usually doing). Big Boys have a wonderful aroma to go along with the great flavor. Any of the "pink" tomatoes, like brandywine, brandyboy, rose, or pruden's purple are wonderfully sweet and balanced, with much less acid. But all these fresh tomatoes are pretty "mushy" compared to the rock hard romas we get in the store in winter.

I wonder how you tomato haters feel about the aroma of the tomato plant? I find it incredibly intoxicating, and can't wait til my little seedlings are just big enough to brush against to get that smell. Harold McGee has been cooking with tomato leaves. I bet if you don't like that smell you don't like fresh tomatoes either.

I don't think tomatoes are evil, but, except for fresh salsa(which has plenty of help for the red guy), I'm not convinced they're a positive force in the world. If my burger comes with a slice, I'll eat it as punishment for having the burger in the first place. Now if y'all want to speak of true evil, let's discuss MAYO!!

Love 'em. However..

All my ex-boyfriends have been tomato haters. Does that mean I'm a tomato-hater-lover?
Halp!

I am so glad to see that I'm not alone! I will eat them in things (like sauces, etc) but I think raw tomatoes are just gross. I get those weird looks like "how can you be a foodie, be part Italian, and hate tomatoes" Well, I just do. The only time I have ever enjoyed a raw tomato was in Rome, when it was topped with fresh mozzarella and basil. It was just that one time, and I still have issues over enjoying it. I really don't like ketchup either, though if you add a little hot sauce to it, it can occasionally be used for french fries and pasties.

@beersnob, agreed that MAYO is the true evil! Ick, ick, ick.

I'm with CJ McD here; send me straight to hell with an arm fullofem!!

I can't imagine my life without raw tomatoes, tomato sauces, V8, caesar cocktails, bloody mary's, stuffed tomatos, salsa...

@ food monstar hahah thats so funny! I'm a Ketchup hater and all my ex's are ketchup-lovers. To me: ketchup isn't even made from tomatos!

To the tomato haters:
Keep hating them, more for me! :D

I love tomatoes in any form, raw or cooked. In fact, I've been known to eat whole tomatoes like apples and eat pre-made spaghetti sauce with a spoon right out of the jar.

In my opinion, here's the best way to enjoy tomato. Take two thick slices of good white bread and drizzle them with balsamic vinaigrette, sprinkle with oregano, then top with slices of tomato and fresh mozzarella. Mmmm...yummy sandwich.

I'm like smaller tomatoes, like cherry ones. The bigger ones are more water than flavor in my book. On a side note, tomatoes can actually kill. They even made a documentary about it.

I like heirloom tomatoes the best because they are weird, more colorful and odd shaped- like me! Now, I have to save my 2 month old daughter from my tomato-hating husband before he corrupts her!

Every year, somebody says "Oh, you've just never tried a fresh, ripe beautiful tomato from my garden"

"Oh, yes I have. I try a piece of one every summer due to the intense pressure from people who insist I've never tried a fresh, ripe beautiful tomato from their garden."

"Well, try this one" they say.

So I try it.

"This would be delightful," I say, "if it was mashed up with ground beef, peppers, and a lot of spices and poured over spaghetti. But the ratio of tomato to other ingredients must be such that the tomato provides moisture but is otherwise undetectable."

@ChefR0bert I've heard that before. I've risen to the challenge. Still don't like tomatoes. Unless, of course, as you suggest, the flavour of the tomato is obliterated by other ingredients.

But, as a person who has no taste for tomatoes, I've noticed that it does deeply offend people who do like them. So much so, that it doesn't matter that I make myself prepare something I've never tried before at least once a week, that I can suggest menu ideas and substitutions that make the neighbours say "wow", that guests never leave my table without a new food experience, that I've tried witchetty grubs; No, simply because I don't care for tomatoes, I need to "stop complaining and get out there to expand my culinary viewpoints".