Tomato melting pot?

The Cod is genuinely puzzled about this tomato kerfuffle, via the WSJ, (I know!):

 In the kingdom of vegetables, the heirloom tomato is high nobility. Genetically unchanged from one generation to another, it offers an intense flavor prized by gardeners and gourmets.

But it has a reputation for being persnickety in the garden. While modern hybrids are tweaked and improved to resist common diseases, the old stalwarts seem to easily succumb to pathogens that can cause plants to suddenly wilt just as they seem ready to produce.  Now, as gardeners prepare to plant this summer's crop, a number of plant breeders are offering hybrids they claim have the distinct flavors and funky looks of heirlooms but are more disease-resistant and abundantly productive.

So far, so good, I guess, but

To tomato purists, the hybrids amount to heirloom heresy. "I cringe when I hear the term 'heirloom hybrid,' " says Amy Goldman, board chairwoman of the Decorah, Iowa-based nonprofit Seed Savers Exchange. The group champions the tradition of passing along heirloom seed from one generation to the next.

My question here is who, exactly, to call bullshit on. On the one hand, it seems like a corporate effort to coopt a (literally) grassroots movement,* kind of like buying a singlespeed at Urban Outfitters** -- these are like the Green Day of tomatoes or something. But, on the other hand, aren't "heirloom hybrids" what make this country what it is? I would cringe at someone who cringes at the idea of ancient bloodlines being tainted by interlopers, because that person would remind me of Ben Tillman. So are heirloom purists fruit racists, or are the hybrid heirloom marketeers heritage hucksters? Or both?

*From his cloud, Malcolm McLaren raises his sherry in approval.

**A company that sells bikes and not helmets is a company that sucks.

Comments

[Margaret]

I have no answers re: what makes a true heirloom (are we approaching a one-drop rule?), but I think you have ushered in the new field of Critical Tomato Theory (CTT) and should begin publishing with Routledge immediately.