Don't like tomatoes? You probably haven't tried the right one yet

Deanna Hurstfield didn't know she liked tomatoes until she was in her twenties.

"I thought that they were messy," said Hurstfield. "To me, they didn't have a lot of flavour."

That changed when a friend introduced her to a fresh garden tomato served up with a bit of salt and pepper.

"It was like, 'oh, now I understand why people like tomatoes,'" she said.

From that early dislike of tomatoes, Hurstfield has made a near-complete turnaround. She now organizes the annual Tomato Festival at the Kamloops Farmers Market, about 250 kilometres northeast of Vancouver. 

At the festival, growers enter tomatoes in a competition for the People's Choice Award, where people get the chance to pick their favourite out of the vast diversity now available.

The widening tomato selection at the local farmers market is part of a much broader movement, in which producers all over the world are responding to consumer demand for more options beyond the standard red grocery store tomato.

With about 19,000 different tomato types listed by the group, Local Food Connect, there's no shortage of choice. 

The tomato is the most popular veggie in the world, according to a 2020 report by Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. In 2017, about 182 million tonnes of tomatoes were grown globally, representing 17 per cent of all the veggies. The next most popular vegetable, onions, came in at nine per cent.

While technically a fruit, the tomato is often considered a vegetable because of the ways it's used in cooking. 

One of the groups working to develop new varieties of tomatoes is the Ontario-based Vineland Research and Innovation Centre. The non-profit also looks into the history and trends of tomato growing in Canada. 

According to Travis Banks, director of crop enhancement and adaptation at Vineland, commercial growers historically focused on produce that shipped well. Tomato varieties were selected for their ability to last longer in a truck and on the shelf.

"Unfortunately, we didn't realize at the time that some of those characteristics were to the detriment of flavour," said Banks.

Vineland has created 34 tomato varieties through its research and development. The group's sensory panel is a big part of that work.