Tomatoes are not native to Italy.

In fact, they weren't introduced to Europe until the mid 1500s, and the first Italian tomato sauce recipe was not written until 1692.

But when we think of Italian cuisine, the dishes that first come to mind are probably pizza, bruschetta, pasta with red sauce.

You might notice they all have one ingredient in common: the tomato.

So how did tomatoes become an Italian staple?

It all starts with colonization, which is responsible for a lot of what we think of as iconic European foods.

Think about it.

Fine Belgian chocolates and Irish potatoes - these essential ingredients came to Europe through colonization.

And the same goes for tomatoes in Italy.

The history of the tomato begins in the Americas, specifically in the Andes around present day Peru and Ecuador, where wild tomato plants originated.

For over 1000 years farmers throughout South America, Central America, and Mexico cultivated the tomato, perfecting the plant through selective breeding.

By 700 ACE tomatl, as the Aztecs called it in their native Nahuatl language, was firmly part of their culinary heritage.

It was actually the Spanish who first brought the tomato to Europe.

In the early 1500s, tomatoes, along with chocolate, potatoes, vanilla, gold, and enslaved people were taken from Mexico and other parts of Mesoamerica and brought to Spain.

It's unclear exactly when the Spanish encountered the tomato, but some researchers credit Hernan Cortez, who brought tomato seeds back to Spain in 1519.

Despite the fact that tomatoes were a common ingredient in Aztec cuisine when the Spanish arrived, Europeans debated on whether or not the fruit - yes, tomatoes are a fruit - was even edible.

The Spanish were among the first Europeans to adopt tomatoes into their cuisine, making dishes similar to the raw tomato and chili sauces they encountered in the Americas.

But for the rest of Europe, tomatoes had a bit of a branding issue.

Rumors circulated throughout Europe and the American colonies until the mid 1800s.

Some believed that the tomato too closely resembled other nightshade plants which were known to be toxic, earning them the nickname poisonous apple.

Others knew that tomatoes were edible, but declared tomatoes to be void of any real nutritional value.

Tomatoes also had to battle against trends.

Because meat heavy dishes were reserved for the wealthy, wating fruits and vegetables was associated with being poor.

In Italy, Tuscans were early adopters of tomatoes within their cucina povera, also known as their poor people's cuisine.

Tuscan culinary traditions are rooted in a waste not want not philosophy, so any leftovers would be cooked in a tomato sauce the next day.

Among wealthy Europeans, however, it was seen as classy to have tomato plants but not eat them.

Growing tomatoes in ornamental gardens was a means of increasing one's cultural capital.

In fact, the Italian word for tomato is pomodoro, meaning golden apple, because they were originally considered a decorative plant.

Europeans also had an aversion to spicy foods, and the salsa recipes that the Spanish took from the Aztecs all called for chilies, the spiciest ingredient that Europe had ever experienced.

The spice, paired with the acidity of the tomato, were flavors that European palates just weren't used to.

It wasn't until 1692 when the perspective slowly started to shift.

That year, Neapolitan chef Antonio Latini wrote what is considered the earliest surviving record of a tomato sauce in his book Lo Scalco alla Moderna, or, The Modern Steward.

This early tomato sauce recipe was considered "Spanish style" and still incorporated chilies.

But roasting the tomatoes with vinegar, salt, and onions reduced the spice level of the sauce, and the addition of thyme gave the sauce a more European touch.

Over the next century, the recipe was adapted by chefs across Europe, until eventually recipes emerged that were less spicy and more savory thanks to the introduction of garlic, parsley and basil.

By the mid 1700s, Europeans were using it much like a condiment, dressing up their meats with the savory, piquant tomato sauce.

Around this time, people in Naples and Tuscany were making tomato based bruschettas.

In 1734, Antica Pizzeria, Port'Alba in Naples claims to have created the first pizza marinara.

And by 1790, the first recipe that combined pasta and sauce was published by Roman chef Francesco Leonardi in the Italian cookbook L'apicio Moderno.

Even though tomatoes appear in a lot of dishes across Italy, the perception that tomatoes are representative of Italian cuisine as a whole is really an American concept.

Most of the Italians who immigrated to the United States were from southern Italy, and because many of them came from poverty, they used more tomatoes in their cooking.

When they arrived, Italian immigrants had more access to meats and cheeses, ingredients that were scarce in their homeland.

Thus, Italian American cuisine, which is considered its own unique style, is abundant in meats, cheeses, and of course, heavy on the tomato sauce.