Price: $50

Medium: watercolor and ink on paper

Dimensions: apprx. 5 x 5 in.

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This painting of a tomato slice includes both Arabic and Turkish text. Translated into English, it reads: "Eating tomatoes is prohibited because tomatoes are Christian. Tomatoes praise the cross instead of Allah and declare that Allah is a Trinity. Allah forbid." (Tomatoes have a cross-shaped interior when cut in half.)

 

I read this warning regarding the Christian nature of tomatoes in the newspaper in Turkey when I was twelve. The article was serious, not satirical, but it really cracked me up, because my family is Christian. 

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