In Italy, tomato is one of the most consumed foods because, let’s face it, besides being delicious, it has a beautiful colour. Moreover, it’s super easy to use: you can eat it raw in a salad, you can stir fry it, you can make tomato sauce, in conclusion, tomato is the king of our cuisine.
Unfortunately, tomatoes belong to the solanaceae category together with peppers, potatoes and aubergines. These foods acidify our body, while other vegetables alkalise it. When the environment in our body is too acid, the body is not at its best and this condition can lead to several problems. Please remember that an excess of acidity can make you feel tired and deprives you of vital energy.
In addition, tomato, despite being very common in our cuisine, is a tropical fruit (not a vegetable) because it originates in countries with a tropical climate (Latin America). For this reason, if you exceed with its consumption, the body weakens and cools down, causing some annoying seasonal problems such as flue and colds.
However, I’m not saying that you should ban tomatoes from your diet, the problem is eating too many tomatoes, and consuming an excessive quantity of similar foods like peppers, aubergines and potatoes (currently, in the average Italian restaurants these are the only vegetables you can find). If we only eat these foods, in the long term, not only do we weaken our body, but we also deprive it of many vitamins and minerals that can be found in all the other (many) vegetables we could choose from.
In conclusion, my advice is to include a variety of vegetables in your diet, preferring leafy green vegetables, carrots, pumpkins, onions, leeks etc. and consuming less solanaceae just for pleasure, sometimes.
I’d like to leave you with a very good alternative recipe to tomato sauce. It’s the recipe for red sauce. As the name itself says, it’s red, so it looks like tomato sauce, but it is made of more nutritious vegetables that alkalise your body, and that you can consume even every day. Moreover, thanks to the addition of umeboshi vinegar and herbs, its flavour is the same as tomato sauce (I personally served it as tomato sauce and no one noticed the difference).
RED SAUCE
Ingredients:
2 onions
400 gr of carrots
200 gr of cooked beetroot
3 tablespoons of umeboshi vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Cut the vegetables into very small pieces. Brown the onion with oil and water, add the remaining vegetables, cook for a few minutes, then add water to cover all the vegetables. Cook over low heat, without opening the lid, for about 30 minutes. When ready, blend the vegetables until you obtain a sauce and add 3 tablespoons of umeboshi vinegar. If you wish you can add some herbs (basil, oregano ectc.).
Tips:
- If onion is not very digestible for you, brown it with oil and water (or just water if you want to cut calories😉), it will be more digestible.
- Before blending the vegetables, remove the beetroot and add it little by little. If you put too much, the sauce becomes purple, it you don’t put enough, it will be orange. The aim is to make the sauce look like tomato sauce, so, dose the beetroot very carefully.
- I love adding oregano, it makes the flavour identical to that of tomato sauce.
On the left, my spaghetti with tomato sauce.
Below, my red sauce, aren't they identical?!? 😊
