The great tomato famine

Restaurants everywhere are feeling the pain after what the winter freeze did to Florida's tomato harvest.
Because of one of the coldest winters, 60% to 70% of Florida's tomato crop was destroyed, and tomatoes prices across the country have skyrocketed.
A 25-pound box of tomatoes from south Florida is selling for $30, up more than 300% from a year ago, when a box of tomatoes was $6.50 to $7.
Some restaurants are only offering the fruit "upon request," or taking tomatoes off their menus altogether. Burger King was so low on tomatoes in the last couple weeks that some of its restaurants were forced to stop offering them.
"We just didn't have them for a few days, so we put up a sign from corporate saying we're sorry, we're out of tomatoes," said an employee at a Burger King.
Since last week, Wendy's has been including tomatoes in its sandwiches and burgers only upon request, said Denny Lynch, a company spokesman."We're doing this in all U.S. stores for two reasons," Lynch said. "One is availability -- we can't get as many tomatoes as we need -- and secondly, the color, size and quality has been affected by the deep freeze in Florida, so the quality might not meet customers' expectations."
Lynch said Wendy's has placed signs explaining the situation outside the restaurant near the drive-through window and next to the cash registers inside, and that so far, customers have been very understanding.
"We've actually had a number of people compliment us that we told them about it beforehand," he said. "Everybody knows that we've had a harsh winter, so they're very understanding about it."
Maybe people will understand, but they will still feel the pinch.
At supermarkets, customers are starting to see an increase in prices and as a result reworking their shopping lists.
As if the winter damage wasn't enough, there is another culprit damaging tomato crops, the Late Blight, a fungus is threatening the tomato industry.

Late Blight, which has the botanical name Phytophthora infestans, (seen in photo above) is the same fungus that caused the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s.
The cool, damp weather this summer has been perfect for the blight.

We know all this famine news is bringing tomato lovers to their knees as they weep in sadness, but this too shall pass.
In the meantime we will just have to weather the storm.