Arthur, Arthur... Sure the Chinese call tomatoes "foreign eggplant" but they also call snow peas "Holland peas". Don't make too much of the name, especially when it's used primarily when you're talking about ketsup. When talking about eating tomatoes, they are xihongshi, right? And the Chinese eat those too-- and a lot of them. XiHongShi-Ji Dan, Art, remember that? Eggs and tomatoes. And cherry and grape tomatoes there are in every market. And yes, that dish of sliced tomatoes with sugar-- a mystery to be sure....

But between a Pizza Hit or Domino's at every intersection in Beijing and a McDonald's opposite, the demand for processed tomatoes in the PRC has been going up, up, up! Look for it to continue to rise, and look for the supply to meet the demand.

But while you're at it, look for smaller farmers to get excited about new varieties of table tomatoes, both F1 and heirloom. There's a lot of land in China suitable for growing tomatoes and more and more Chinese are going red in the kitchen, even as they leave it behind in the classroom and workplace.