tomatoes

[http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert (robert)]

 > From: Bhavani <http://www.adelphia.net/~bhavani>
 > Date: Sun, 06 Jul 2003 16:14:19 -0400
 >
 > Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content 
 > caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and 
 > death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or 
 > so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

This isn't quite true.  The real reason is that nightshade plants
(potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers) have poisonous leaves.  Settlers
to North America thought that since the leaves were poisonous, the fruit
was, too.