Sad state of Tomatoes!

This is a box of tomatoes that we received at a restaurant I manage.   This is how commercial tomatoes are grown.  They are picked fairly green and then gassed with Ethylene to ripen them when they are near their destination.  This is done because truly ripe tomatoes don't ship well as they will bruise and crack from the transportation process.    This is a by produce of mass farming in certain areas and then shipped to consumers, sometimes many states away.  

Here are some images of the various states green tomatoes are picked.

Here is images of the roma tomatoes that we received.  They look to be state 5 - and virtually have no taste

This is why we need to promote and support local agriculture in the City of Riverside and especially the green belt.   There are hundreds of acres of vacant agricultural land that could be used to grow vegetables.      There is nothing like the taste of a truly vine ripened tomato picked at the peak of ripeness.