The exact date of tomato domestication is unknown; by 500 BC, it was being cultivated by the Aztecs in southern Mexico .
The wild ancestor of the tomato is native to western South America. These wild versions were the size of peas. Aztecs were the first to have domesticated the fruit and used in their cooking.
The Pueblo people are thought to have believed that those who witnessed the ingestion of tomato seeds were blessed with powers of divination .
The Spanish first introduced tomatoes to Europe, where they became used in Spanish food.
In France, Italy and northern Europe, the tomato was initially grown as an ornamental plant.
Tomatoes were regarded with suspicion in Northern Europe because botanists recognized it as a nightshade , a relative of the poisonous belladonna . Tomatoes also reacted with pewter plates, causing a chemical reaction that made people ill.
People who ate food from plates made of wood did not experience the toxic reaction that people who ate from pewter, and therefore did not have an aversion to tomatoes.
There is a story that there was a pizza created by one restaurateur in Naples to celebrate the visit of Queen Margarite, the first Italian monarch since Napoleon conquered Italy. The restaurateur made the pizza from three ingredients that represented the colors of the new Italian flag: red (tomato sauce), white (cheese), and green (basil): Pizza Margarite
With people traveling, the tomato was adopted in many other countries like India, China, Philippines, and the Middle East.
It appears though that tomatoes have had the largest impact on American eating habits, as we eat over 12 million tons of tomatoes each year.