Unofficial Tomato War Side Quest
Pro tomato or anti tomato? Follow the PB Tomato War lore with this unofficial side quest. Start with The Spellshop (& read Fantasy's post @ 41%) to see the war's origins and pick your side. Next, get the facts with Ten Tomatoes That Changed The World (notbillnye / pro camp's manifesto). Hate tomatoes? Read I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato, and discover their true evil with Dead Witch Walking (virus spreads via GMO tomato). Finish with the feel-good Fried Green Tomatoes. Which side will prevail?
created by jenniferPagebound
last updated December, 2025
Comments
all tomatoes are delicious, cooked or raw (though raw is my preferred state) big ones definitely eaten like an apple, and if they're not well hidden I will devour a punnet of plum tomatoes like nobody's business
I would never say anything bad about notbillnye but Fantasy is 1000% correct. Tomatoes should not be eaten like an apple. I would also like to mention the subplot here is Fantasy's and notbillnye's toxic will-they-won't-they romance.
This is truly thrilling 👀
i too am on team anti tomato 🫡
Welcome to the team 🫡
This would be the correct side.
Thought we were friends Bea……
i love you mossy but my tomato disgust knows no boundary
You are boring /j ❤️
I am the most interesting man alive 💅🏽
The lack of delight you're taking in our planet earth, the lack of whimsy, is effecting your self-perception i see. Pat pat
How dare thou. I have whimsy, I have delight -- I simply decline to see the appeal in eating a nightshade in its nasty little raw form when I can sample its succulence in a sauce or dip instead 😤 (💖)
Y'all never just eat a cherry tomato whole?
No!!! What is this?? Why are y'all eating them like grapes? 😧
There are literally ones called grape tomatoes. It's all fruit. Just eat the fruit.
No, I refuse! This is like that time my mom tried to make me eat peas because I liked split pea soup and then I threw up the peas at the table 😫
That is some The Exorcist action.
i feel like we're edging into kink shaming territory here 😓
It was one thing when you were eating them cut up or like an apple, it's totally different imagining someone just pop them in their mouth like little grapes. 😭 Consider your kink thoroughly shamed.
Yeah! So fun! (And accessible snack!)
Literally my favorite thing during tomato season. I have 3 cherry tomato plants and 3 sungolds this year. When I go to harvest it's like, one for the basket, one for me, back and forth. Have these people never had a warm tomato right off the vine???
this was my thing too! when you pull it from the stem & get that lovely tomato-vine-sun-ripe smell !!! YUM! always a tomato for me
Nope
Then, excuse me, how do you eat grapes? They are the same size and shape.
Because I like grapes LOL and they're a more uniform texture. Cherry tomatoes (and all other raw tomatoes regardless of size) have too much going on inside, and on top of it are too acidic for my preference until they get cooked
Acidic I can understand, because of the heartburn of it all, but at least the seeds in tomatoes aren't like the seeds in grapes (not exactly uniform texture) lol
I guess I get seedless grapes?? I can't tell you the last time I experienced a (noticable) seed in a grape?
Yeah, many grapes have been modified to be seedless. You know what didn't have to be modified to not have hard little seeds? Tomatoes.
seema said: no more peace 😠💀
For clarification for everyone, when we say we're anti tomatoes we mean we're anti eating tomatoes raw like an apple 😩 I am very pro tomato soup and pro chinese tomato egg stir fry 😤
Exactly.
A Chinese what what?! EDIT: just looked at your profile I apologize for my ignorance, regional differences got me here 😔✊
No worries 😂 I debated on specifying it's Chinese, but thought the idea of the dish without context will be too jarring 😂
BORINGGGGGGGGG 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅
YASSSSSSSS very pro Chinese tomato egg stir fry!!! 🥰 one of my faves from childhood!
Sometimes I think about it and my mouth waters 😭 I'm gonna have to go look for this tmr 😭
OMG SAME!!!! My mouth was watering just reading your comment 😅 I was already thinking of calling my mom for the recipe or looking online
Aaaaaaa do it!! treat yo self!!
exactly!
I agree. I just had marinara sauce over penne so it's not like I hate tomato in every form, just when it's eaten like peach.
Hey! I cut my raw tomatoes before I eat them. I don’t just bite into them like some unmannered heathen
WHO'S WE I HATE ALL TOMATOES (i like tomato sauce but i can't eat it i have tummy problems)
Further clarification: Bea, specifically, hates ALL tomatoes, rawdogged or otherwise 😤
rawdogged 😂
thank you for recognizing my pure righteous fury 😤😤
(I hate all tomatos too!! 😅🫣)
Umm actually....scientifically, tomatoes should be eaten raw, because cooking them have a significant drop in Vitamin C content. So notbillnye is correct.
I will chug a whole carton of orange juice instead
But orange juice carton has has low pH and will give acid reflux, no fibre so high sugar concentration will give blood sugar spike, also less nutrient dense and can erode teeth enamel. While raw tomatoes have fibre and pulp very low sugar, powerful antioxidants like lycopene, acidic but chewing buffers the acid....so you know eaten raw.
Respectfully, no amount of science and health benefits can turn me towards enemy camp (gagged on a raw cherry tomato in front of my students today and it was mortifying 😔)
Ouch... You know what, cooked tomatoes are fine, they are pretty healthy as well. And there's plenty of Vit. C in Oranges. We'll just agree raw is better and move on!! Shake on it ?🤝
today we choose peace in the lands 🤝🏼
Long live the empire of mellow vibes 🕊️
Thank you for joining the correct side. Yes, we are not anti all tomatoes, just eating them raw like apples. We are pro tomatoes as ingredients and cooked (I love tomato-based sauces, tomato soup, etc.) And our romance is not will-they-won't-they, it's simply when-will-they
This is actually so helpful as someone who didn't know the origin of The Tomato War but all of a sudden was inundated with tomato conflict across the home page 😭
had to do the lord's work, pb shall remain gatekeeper-free 🤺🤺
We'll just have a document for new PBers to get the full breakdown of anything they encounter
Right I hope someones ready to create a 2025 lore wrap up, would gladly sit through a powerpoint
I'm sat for the PowerPoint! 🙂↕️👀
As someone who’s been growing tomatoes for the past two years I was alarmed to see tomato conflict on my timeline and this has helped a lot😂
Eating cherry tomatoes while seeing this list was an out of body experience, lemme tell you
You would be 😔
Cherry tomatoes are top tier, but have you ever seen sprinkle tomatoes?
I've seen them at trader joes 👀👀👀 are they divine??
also, this is the energy I feel like talking about our favorite tomatoes
omg that sounds adorable? the closest thing I've seen here is "cherry tomatoes trimix" which I'm not sure is the same thing lmao so I'll trust your judgment that they're yummy
Omg you just opened a new world to me!! I wonder if we get them in europe 👀🍅
you must try looking for them! they're just tiny, but who doesn't love miniature things
I love snack tomatoes AND miniature things so this is making me very excited
The sprinkles are so cute!!!! I LOVE THEM!!!
omg i freaking love it here Pagebound tomato lore will go down in history
We need to work on creating other lore
you cannot manufacture lore it must come naturally 🙂↕️🙂↕️
I create the reality I desire; do you not also do that?
this should be a t-shirt
but is it pronounced to-may-to or to-mah-to?
oh pykora we have enough strife in our small kingdom
(i’m secretly the evil advisor stirring the pot for my own nefarious purposes 😈)
INCREASE THE STRIFE!
here in the USA SE we call that there a "tuh-my-tuh" 😆🍅
I mean, it's definitely to-may-to but y'all can say it however you want because my love and grace is infinite 🫶🏽
and with love and grace my liege, you’re so wrong it’s not even funny 💝
My Great Lady Kora, I never expected this betrayal from thou 💔
I love being present for this time in history 😂
(team 🍅✨️, of course)
🤢
Team tomato rise up! Rawdogged, souped, sauced, fried 🍅
PLEASE i am SCREAMING 😭😭😭😭😭😭 fantasy you have really made a legacy here thank you jennifer 😭😭😭
It's truly notbillnye perpetually pushing the pro agenda, otherwise I wouldn't need to fight so hard
I think this is the 3rd tomato list I've seen on my feed 😂
The tomato lists are truly getting out of hand. But I also think I see them repeated because everyone is commenting on them
there are only three 💀 and the OG one wasn't about tomatoes, just fun food nonfiction (mine obviously)
I loved the fun food nonfiction one
out of all this madness, this is the best news tbh
a single speck of light in the tomato darkness
Oh my freaking goodness, Jennifer!! This is so amazing! Obsessed. 10/10.
eta, happy to be pro tomato 🙂↕️ and also, it would actually be hilarious if notbillnye didn’t even like tomatoes.
If Billiam is a liar about their love for tomatoes, I think we should be allowed to tomato her.
this is the propaganda Fantasy wants, do not fall for it
You should absolutely fall for it
You're being very suspicious 🤔 How do we know you're not just trying to create an uproar?
oh polter... I'm re-reading the tomato book to determine which type of tomato to get tattooed... I fear I'm so committed, we haven't even begun
Great Billiam, consider the humble tomatillo instead 💖
I hope you know that you're now legally obligated to share the tattoo with us once you get it 👀🙂↕️ /hj /nf
wanted to comment the same thing!!!
Ooh, a tomato on the vine tattoo would be so cute. Like, a cluster of cherry tomatoes
The people in my life know about the tomato discourse and I'm so glad it's become its own list. Who knew a simple post about my disgust over eating a tomato like an apple would cause such an outpouring of emotion from all sides. One day, I hope both sides of this conflict can come together and meet each other as people, not as barbarians
On the opposing side, I was simply ecstatic to have more people read the tomato book. Unbeknownst to me, that my uninviting you to read the tomato book would lead to such uproar and some saucy feelings. I am willing to put aside our differences as I believe our love is ketchup-ed in destiny. ♥️
Yes, I feel our differences can be overcome by our love. I'm willing to eat a small tomato if you marry me. Deal?
😳 omg can't wait to see how this plays out for y'all
Hopefully incredibly consensual and equally thrilling
Now THAT'S a romantic gesture
I do not wish for our love to begin with hurting one another. While I am flattered by your highly romantic gesture to torture yourself eating a tomato, no matter the size, that sets such a terrible precedent for our relationship to flourish. I believe we must find a common ground to really, truly begin our love and find peace... read the tomato book instead. 🥰
Your sense of honor is so lofty, I shan't deign to discourage its descent. I would be honored to do anything my lady believes will help this relationship flourish into one that is a romance for the ages. So, if you so wish...I shall read the tomato book. I hope the gods forgive my tomato-red heart, for it beats only for you
I did put a Libby hold on a the tomato book a few days ago 🍅 but either my library only has one or two copies or there's been a sudden surge of interest because it's a 4 week wait!
THIS is my agenda!!! (i'm sorry you have such a wait) THE WORD IS SPREADING (i fear i sound crazy now)
As someone who loves, and has the only written review so far on ten tomatoes that changed the world … I am nervous about what this is about to unleash on poor William Alexander why must tomatoes cause such a rift 😭 Pro-tomato camp but also vegetable(fruit*) ambivalent, notbillnye introduced me to this world no regrets 🍅
gasp!! Are you telling me notbillnye doesn’t even have a review for it!
Thank you for this 🙂↕️ future generations will now know the lore
eta: I stand on the side of the tomato 🍅
You always do the funniest things 🤣
absolutely incredible I love it here 😂
(🍅🫶🏻)
Who knew tomatoes would bring us all together! 😜
while simultaneously tearing us apart ⚔️
. . . 😵💫👻 dun dun dunnnn
Haha, this was amazing on its own, but seeing who made this makes it even better! Looks like the Tomato Wars have become officially recognized and endorsed 😂
And Jennifer stands on the correct side
✊✊
😱 Jennifer how could you?! I thought you stood on the right side of raw tomato history
Idk, she kind of set you up to have people comment about their eating tomatos like apples habits for the rest of Page Bounds' existence. So she could be a double agent here 😂
I can never leave 😭😝
Where do we vote? I vote tomato cult! Considering grabbing a slice of tomato for a midnight snack
I will never not find this whole thing funny!🤣 Also, ABSOLUTELY pro-tomato in all it's forms (sauce, soup, salad, cooked, etc), I just love tomatoes).
Seeing this side quest pop on my feed and then going to see the origin story of it was a wild ride I was not prepared for 🤣 but I feel like I must show my allegiance to the 🍅 PRO TOMATO SIDE, ALL HAIL THE TOMATO!!! 🍅 (also raw tomatoes are delicious don't get me started)
I hope one day the author of Spellshop finds this and knows the chaos she's inadvertently created.
That would make me unreasonably happy
Same for William Alexander. This man is probably just over the moon with people becoming obsessed with tomatoes
oh my god this is amazing
This war is going places 😂😂
I've been wondering why that forum post keeps popping off and now I see why 😅 I am asking anyone on team anti-raw-tomatoes who hasn't tried a freshly picked homegrown summer tomato to please try one before picking a side 🙏 extra points if you add a lil salt and pepper 🍅
I used to be anti raw tomato. And then summer heirloom tomato’s came into my life and it was love at first bite. 😍
A beautiful love story 🍅
I have never had this luxury however I will say, eating Italian tomatoes changed my mind on them. I am anti raw tomato with the strong caveat that this is based on likely unripe tomatoes from American grocery stores
Frfr it's kind of an honor to have access to a non-grocery store tomato. I can tolerate and enjoy a lot of grocery store tomatoes but I can't fault people who hate them if that's their only experience
The way I chuckled when this list came up on my home feed 😂 I had to explain the tomato lore to my friend who was in the room with me LOL
I hope they didn't judge you 😂
Never realized how much can people debate on tomatoes, anyways team pro tomatoes 🍅 (except cooked tomatoes those suck 🤢)
????!?!?!? tomato soup????
I’m not talking about soups and stews with blended or cut into small pieces tomatoes (those are great) I’m talking a whole tomato grilled or roasted and then eaten, they taste lumpy and weird
Edit: I forgot that I like shakshuka so some cooked tomatoes are good
I’m SO sorry I’m so late to the tomato party, but roasted tomatoes are absolutely heavenly!!! This tomato format comes as a close second to the rawdog tomato hehe
I’m subtlety taking my stance with the pro tomato crew 🍅✊🏼
They get lumpy watery and warm these are not a good food combination
Beg to disagree because a good, juicy, warm, roasted tomato is 😮💨🤌🏼 i could eat a whole bowl of ‘em and I think we all should hahah
I’m eating a roasted tomato for breakfast as we speak. All tomatoes are good tomatoes!!
Yum yum lucky you!! 😮💨
This is a staggering stance. You may be in your own camp
This is exactly the quest I needed in my life. All hail the mighty tomato 😜
this is so unserious and fun
HAHA LOVE THISSS!!! Team Pro Tomato! 🍅
omg this is insane 😭 I'm such a mid tomato enjoyer, I don't even know what side to pick
Same!! I have mostly picked being a chaotic observer who comments noncommitally about my side 😂
watching from the sidelines 🙂↕️
As befits your username
chaos in all things
Also in the middle just watching with fascination
I have somehow just come across this now and am trying to catch up but this is the funniest thing I've seen on pb and I feel I need to fully immerse myself. I need a full ppt party please xxx
Pretty sure I eat tomatoes in some form every single say, is this for me? Team pro-tomato all day!
Ily
Cherry tomatoes = best vegetables ever AND best pizza topping ever!
raw tomatoes on the pizza? or are they cooked?
Cooked works, you can even push them into the dough if it's tall like focaccia. But one can also do a base cooked pizza and then put on top fresh rucola, cut cherry tomatoes, and coarsely grated hard cheese like parmesan :-) As with all things, one can do as one likes the most ;-)
I wish this was an official side quest so I could get a tomato badge 🍅
haha i was tempted but we didn't want it to seem gatekeepy / too much of an inside joke that people feel left out on. So, a list with lore description will do the job 💪
Tomato avatar?
As a neutral party in this war, I would like to provide an anthem to the anti tomato party which I stumbled across. I opened the comments and half expected someone to mention Pagebound. anthem here
I KNEW IT—I KNEW IT WAS THIS VIDEO BEFORE I EVEN CLICKED IT
LMAO of course you’ve already seen it 😂
I'm being haunted by anti tomato content even off this app 😭 (also I did comment: "This video would do numbers on Pagebound")
I've got to go find your comment and give it all the love lol we gotta stick together (even if some of our number abhor you and your tomatoes ;))🙂↕️
gracie i cannot believe this 😭😭😭😭😭😭
Hey, I’ve just gotta share with the people 🙂↕️🙂↕️
girl, this is soooo funny lmao the lore goes on and on
Omg this is such a wild ride to get caught up on, thank u for the collected info!
This is so funny! I guess so far I’m pro-tomato. 😆
I stand by my official quest suggestion hehe! Ive already found 30+ tomato books in my tomato list 🙂↕️🙂↕️🙂↕️ tomatoes 4eva
Who would have guessed tomatoes would be so controversial? This discourse is tooooo good. I’m eating this up. 🤭
Team anti-tomato 😉
Nahh if you ate tomatoes unseasoned and raw and think they are yummy i just know you like eating banana gummies and drinking celery water or some $h|t.
Not to begin the next discourse, but bananas and celery actually killed my parents since tomatoes murdered Fantasy’s
😮 baby! And the fake banana taste too! I am so sorry. I'm fully on your side 😔
Yeah, that fake banana taste gives me icks😭
I love bananas and I love artificial banana which is just based on a different banana variety I love banana milkshakes I love banana cream pie I will have bananas with chocolate or peanut butter in fact I don't think I've met a banana form I don't like except dried banana chips which are texturally displeasing to me. BANANAS FOR BANANAS 🍌
Celery can absolutely go though
i feel like i've just seen the real seema
I felt like I just spaced out into banana land and when I came back to awareness I was the Bubba of bananas lmao. My passion surprises me even
it was cute (i like bananas and banana bread, you can have my banana laffy taffy)
🤭 I'll even make you the banana bread! And chocolate zucchini bread. Maybe some kind of apple cinnamon bread/cake loaf... I'm reentering my baking era I think
now this is the cozy behavior i endorse!! 🍞🍌 i do not have a sweet tooth, but in bread form? every bite, every crumb 😋
Nahh i can agree on and eat everything that has a real banana in it and not the ,,banana flavour"💀
Go off, seema! I do know that the banana flavor of some things is what some bananas tasted like before they got wiped up but unfortunately, candy really ruined that taste for me. But I do love a banana shake/milkshake, desert, etc so you're incredibly valid
I rarelyyy eat candy in general so to me if I do have a banana laffy Taffy or something of that sort it's just incredibly nostalgic, I understand it's a very strong flavor though so that one being a no go I can hear you on. But fresh bananas I must ride for
...you...ride...on bananas? 😏😏😏
drags you away by the collar alright timeout you go
now this is a war i can get behind, bananas and celery are fucking gross dude 😭
maybe this will bring peace 🕊️
There's no celery emoji unfortunately, but we'll make do with words
just gagged a little just thinking about celery
Hands up if you think this one should be among the OFFICIAL quests 🖐
HUZZAH !
This list made my day, I will celebrate by eating a raw tomato 🤝
Didn’t know it snowballed into this 😂 I’m with notbillnye with this one am afraid! 🍅
Jeff Strand’s Attack of the Killer Tomatoes would be the perfect book for this list because tomatoes can, in fact, attack you 🤣
How did I miss this in my tomato book research
omg BAHAHA i love this (and TOMATOES) so much 🍅〰️🍅 💕 diced with some salt and pep for breakfast with some good ol bacon and eggs?! so refreshing!
This is becoming iconic ✨️ or maybe it is already 😂😂 Anyways : raw tomato eater here 🍅❤️
Realising I've been commenting on stuff without ever making my stance known, so maybe this is the best place to announce that I am PRO TOMATO!! 🍅🫶 tomato salad with proper sun-ripened Mediterranean tomatoes with some good olive oil is pure heaven. A baby plum tomato snack is wonderful. I recently discovered the colourful mixed cherry/baby plum tomatoes from the isle of wight - a red, black, yellow, green cornucopia of delight! And homegrown heirloom tomatoes! I could go on and on. And I stand by my views!! Tomatoes forever!!!! 🍅✨️🍅
Raw tomatoes are delicious and I will stand by that! Any and all types of ways to eat tomatoes are perfect. They are perfection. With a bit of salt, on a sandwich, cooked, grilled, raw…mmm 😋 🤤
Simply. No 🙂 booo tomatoes, I’m throwing tomatoes AT tomatoes to get my message across. Tomato on tomato crime yeah I said it who’s gonna stop me
My confession is that I myself am baffled as to why I don’t like em because they have very appealing characteristics but the thought of eating them like apples makes me want to cry
Also this is the funniest thing ever and I love how passionate everyone is you guys are all so fun
Listen, my library has all of these books, so one day, after all the books for actual quests have been completed, I'll hop over to the Pagebound Rec list I have created on my library account and read the 3 I haven't already read. It's just not going to happen any time soon.
Ooh... You aren't talking about Spanish tomato war...? Hide the tomato behind my back
love tomatoes, hate the idea of eating a tomato like an apple 🤢
I was raised in a pro-tomato household but sadly I am tomato neutral, anti-tomato leaning.
I am a disappointment to my family but I’ll survive this 😔✊
I'm against the big red ones (what kind of sick monster wants to basicly drink the tomato goo from that shit might as well put a long straw down a gutter and slurrup until you burst) but I am a black Russian tomato stan. Specifically the ones off the plants from bunnings. I will never forgive bunnings for when they stopped selling those plants.
