The GaiaONE has to be flown overnight from Osaka in special temperature and pressure-controlled packaging.

BANGKOK – Villa Market, one of the capital city’s premium grovery store chains, has announced another first for the nation: the availability of the world’s first tomato priced at Bt10,000, or US$350.

The tomato in question is a rare hybrid tomates cerise that was created in a special Japanese laboratory in Osaka , where researchers cross-bred an Heirloom tomato with a Momotaro to achieve the perfect blend of texture and sweetness. The resulting hybrid, known only as TM-2354K1.1112, was then further cross-bred with an Italian San Marzano tomato to reduce its size to a perfect near-cherry size, a process which took almost nine years to develop.

The resulting tomato, which has been named the GaiaONE, is considered to be the world’s best tomato because it not only combines the best of all known tomato varietals, but is grown in very specific conditions.

“For the first part of its life, the GaiaONE is hydroponic,” explained Amy Melford, Villa’s PR manager. “It lives in pure mountain spring water and is exposed only to sunlight filtered for UVA and UVB light. Then the vines are transplanted to a special compost made exclusively from the feces of Kobe beef cows. This gives the GaiaONE its unique flavor, which has the highest rating on the unagi scale of any tomato ever.”

Such perfection doesn’t come without costs, however, and in addition to its production expenses, the GaiaONE has to be flown overnight from Osaka in special temperature and pressure-controlled packaging, resulting in the stiff 10,000 baht price tag for a single tomato. According to Amy, Villa plans to build a special display for the GaiaONE in the produce section.

“We’ve had some very special items before, such as the 720 baht/kilo USA white peaches, or the 560 baht/kilo Australian butter lettuce, but this is really a new level for us,” she explained. Also, the GaiaONE has to be handled with special foam-latex tongs, so it’s best to separate them from our ordinary, 400 baht/kilo hydroponic Dutch tomatoes.”

Although the GaiaONE won’t be in stores until September 30th, excitement has already begun to build among Villa customers.

“I absolutely must have them for my avacado tarragon salsa,” said Bridgitte Lancaster-Merrill, a British expatriate whose husband works at Citibank, and who has pre-ordered a dozen GaiaONE tomatoes. “They’ll go perfectly with my 18,000 baht/kilo Kopi Luwak coffee, and 375,000 baht/kilo white truffles.”

Her sentiments were echoed by S. Mortimer Haumann, a fund manager who has pre-ordered several kilos of GaiaONEs for what he expects to be the “world’s greatest Bloody Mary.”

“It’s not about the money,” he said. “It’s about others not having the money. That’s what makes expat life truly enjoyable.”

http://www.notthenation.com/pages/news/getnews.php?id=824

I'd feel better giving a 100 needy persons a decent meal.

Yeah well.

How about the line that says they're grown in pure Kobe beef sh*t which gives them their unique taste - must be a wind-up. Never mind the words and names and jobs of the two pre-ordering customers...

ummmmm

Maybe there's a clue in the Link chaps?

http://www.notthenation.com/pages/news/getnews.php?id=824

Patrick

Go in Italy, where you can eat better tomatoes for 1/100 of that price

Some of the produce prices at the expat/hiso markets are indeed surreal.

Could have been tastier if the tomatoes were wrapped in a porous shell of gold flake and passed through the digestive system of Kobe cattle.

Edited September 26, 200916 yr by Jingthing

Notice the occupation of the 2 quoted customers: banking & finance - UK media would to get their hands on that!

I know it's a NTN article but it doesn't seem that far fetched. The Japanese are special in this regard. Almost 20 years ago I was presented with a "perfect" cantaloupe on the occasion of my maiden voyage as Master to the Port of Yokohama. They claimed it cost something close to $100, even then.

I'd feel better giving a 100 needy persons a decent meal.

So very true!!!!

This reminds me of an ad I spotted at Central Rama III next to the gold shops on the 3rd floor. The ad was advertising the sale of some diamond at 175,000 THB with the quote "The happiness one gets from giving" or something similar.

Go in Italy, where you can eat better tomatoes for 1/100 of that price

100 baht for a tomato! Well it explains why pizza is so expensive in Venice I suppose.

Unagi scale? Either the taste of Japanese tomatoes are measured according to how simmilar they taste to eels, or the writer has made a malapropism using "unagi" instead of "umami". I suspect the latter......even though the entire article is just a satire.