>until Amerindians disabused them of the notion, New World settlers
>would not eat tomatoes, believing them to be poisonous because
>they resembled poisonous European plants.
Did you know that tomatoes often DID result in poisoning, during the middle-ages? 'Turns out, the wealthier folk were eating off of pewter plates. Pewter has a lead content which is "extracted" by the high-acid content of tomatoes. So, in fact, they were suffering lead-poisoning. They simply failed to follow the "facts" to an accurate conclusion.
I heard/read this somewhere and found it rather fascinating. So, I thought I'ld share it.
Roni