Tomatoes and Erotica

Saturday I went to La fete de la tomate (The Tomato Festival) here in Geneva. However, when I first saw the signs posted around town I had visions of La Tomatina held annually in Bunol, Spain. Here, people gather and have the largest food fight in the world, throwing over 150,000 kilograms of tomatoes. So I thought it could perhaps be a smaller version of that, but La fete de la tomate was a little bit more calm.

In fact, La fete de la tomate is an annual tradition, and it is held at an outdoor market. There are over 50 different styles of tomatoes to taste. Additionally, there are all types of cheese, goat's milk, honey, absinthe, sausages and wines to taste. I tasted a lot, considered buying a bottle of wine, a small pot of honey, and a few tomatoes, but I ended up holding off and leaving empty handed. I probably should have bought a few tomatoes in retrospect.

The next topic has nothing to do with tomatoes, but I really would like to comment on its presence here in Geneva: erotica. I have started to try and read the newspaper in French throughout the day, attempting to build my vocabulary and see how much I can comprehend. In every newspaper I have read so far, I keep coming upon erotica advertisements... in the daily newspaper! There are people advertising for spouse swapping, homosexual and heterosexual adventures, and escort services. They describe their physical appearance, age, race and profession, but they do not stop there. They also describe their personal preferences and...well...you get the point.

Also, I have the most basic cable television package that Geneva has to offer. There are 40 channels, and only 15 are in French. The others are in German, Italian, Portuguese, and I have CNBC in English. However, when I've been flipping through the channels at night before bed, I occasionally run across what I consider to be soft core porn. They bare all, and it is basic cable television! For me, this is pretty strange. Still, I guess it all goes back to the fact that Europeans are more open with the human body while Americans are a bit more private in that department.

So in conclusion, I had a great time tasting tomatoes on Saturday.