…in which I make my public radio debut.

Earlier this week, journalist Edgar B. Herwick III interviewed me for the daily show The Curiosity Desk at WGBH. The episode’s theme was “Tomato Takeover,” and I’d been invited to talk (via Zoom) about the tomato perfume trend.

This was my first time speaking on a podcast that’s also a live radio show, and I’ve been watching WGBH tv productions for much of my life, so I was excited to be connected with this platform in any way. Edgar was an ideal host and I really enjoyed our conversation! If you’d like to hear it, visit this episode at The Curiosity Desk — I’m introduced around the 25-minute mark, but the whole show is a good listen.

A few bonus thoughts on this succulent red vegetable…

My favorite tomato and/or tomato-leaf perfumes: CB I Hate Perfume Memory of Kindness and ERIS Parfums Green Spell

My favorite tomato candles: The Lucky Honeybee Jersey Tomato. I also want to try LAFCO Tomato Season, which smelled fantastic when I sniffed one recently.

My favorite ways to eat tomatoes: I love a simple sliced-tomato sandwich on good, crusty bread, with salt, pepper, and a little bit of mayonnaise. And still think fondly of the gazpacho at Dojo Restaurant (r.i.p.), but I’ll enjoy a bowl of gazpacho pretty much anywhere that offers it nowadays.

My favorite tomato-inspired art: I never get tired of talking about Andy Warhol’s soup cans at the Museum of Modern Art. Of course, they’re not just “about” tomatoes, and that’s what makes them interesting all these decades later.

Additional important thanks to go Hannah Loss, the producer who invited me to speak on The Curiosity Desk, and to Emily Jensen, whose May 2025 article on tomato fragrance and home fragrance gave me my first opportunity to think through some of these juicy tales!

Any favorite tomato scents or other tomato-related recommendations to share? Let us know!