This Summer, Reach for Tomatoes to Top Toast
In places where locally-grown summer tomatoes are plentiful but avocados are shipped in, the choice is easy
Since moving to Puerto Rico, I have become an expert in cooking without cooking. While I sit at my computer all day and occasionally my stomach grumbles with hunger, I generally reach for fruit that I can eat quickly or make a toast that I can top with whatever is at hand.
Because we’re blessed here to have tomatoes in season all year round, a lot of the time, that is simply tomato — but because I grate it in the style of Catalan pa amb tomàquet or, in Spanish, pan con tomate, or in English, bread with tomato, it has a touch of European flair. In these pandemic times when travel from the States to the countries of the European Union is banned, this flair is more than worth its weight in flaky Maldon sea salt.
It is a great alternative to avocado toast for those who live in places where tomatoes grow abundantly during this season, but avocados are still shipped in from afar. As the World Economic Forum wrote earlier this year, the relatively recent introduction of Mexican avocados to the U.S. food market has created a billion-dollar industry with huge environmental costs:
Despite this massive creation of value and…
