In the small village of Reykholt, Iceland, at the leading farm-to-table restaurant Fridheimar, tourists come from around the world for a $39 dish of unlimited tomato soup.
This restaurant, which is an ode to the humble tomato, doesn't just serve them puréed. Rather, it wallows in them as dinner is served amongst tomato vines, inside the greenhouse where they grow. What about a tomato sauce, with a side of pasta? Or a tomato cheesecake? Or a tomato pick-me-up cocktail, if you're feeling wobbly? Or a tomato ice cream, washed down by a tomato beer?
Since opening in 2013, the restaurant has led a tomato-centred tourism boom, now attracting 250,000 visitors a year to the south Iceland village of around 100 residents. It moves oodles and oodles of this red crown jewel, close to 40 per cent of Iceland's total tomato supply, with up to two tonnes produced there a day. And guess what, they taste absolutely brilliant.
One visitor, Michaela Gustaitis, who has come here from Saugatuck, Michigan, on honeymoon with her wife, is drinking the "Healthy Mary" (an Icelandic take on the classic Bloody Mary). "It's green tomatoes, lime, honey and ginger. It's super fresh," she says.
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