The Salafists claim the tomato is a Christian food because it has a cross in it. (Now Lebanon)
Salafists warned Egyptians to stop eating tomatoes because it’s a Christian fruit which holds the Cross in it.
Now Lebanon reported, via ROP:
A Salafist group called the Popular Egyptian Islamic Association has come under fire after sending out a warning on Facebook urging its followers not to eat tomatoes because the vegetable (or fruit) is a Christian food.
The group posted a photo on its page of a tomato – which appears to reveal the shape of a cross after being cut in half – along with the message: “Eating tomatoes is forbidden because they are Christian. [The tomato] praises the cross instead of Allah and says that Allah is three (a reference to the Trinity).
[God help us]. I implore you to spread this photo because there is a sister from Palestine who saw the prophet of Allah [Mohammad] in a vision and he was crying, warning his nation against eating them [tomatoes]. If you don’t spread this [message], know that it is the devil who stopped you.”
In 2007 Al Qaeda in Iraq warned street vendors not to place tomatoes beside cucumbers because the vegetables are different genders.