Outlander Book 9 daily lines: Why won’t Lord John Grey’s cook serve tomatoes?

Outlander -- Courtesy of STARZ -- Acquired via STARZ Media Center
Outlander -- Courtesy of STARZ -- Acquired via STARZ Media Center

Diana Gabaldon has shared a short post for Outlander Book 9 daily lines. It’s a snippet about cooking, superstitions, and tomatoes.

Lord John Grey’s cook refuses to serve tomatoes in the latest Outlander Book 9 daily lines. Just why is that the case?

The latest snippet is just a short one. There are a few things that we can take away from it, such as it looks like William and Lord John Grey are back on good terms. If you’ve read the books, you’ll know exactly why William ends up feeling hurt and betrayed by his father. For those who haven’t read the books, I’m not going into the details to avoid the major spoilers for you.

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Don’t worry, there aren’t any spoilers in the snippet from “Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone,” either. Gabaldon regularly shares snippets that have no major consequences on the overall story. Instead, they’re fun insights into the characters and the time period.

It’s the time period and the belief in superstitions and wrong facts that comes up in the “Bees” daily lines today. Lord John Grey’s cook refuses to serve tomatoes. She thinks they’re poisonous, which is certainly not an uncommon belief from the time period.

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According to the Smithsonian Magazine, the people of Europe believed that tomatoes were poisonous because many aristocrats would eat them and die. It was actually the plates that the tomatoes were placed on that caused a problem—the high acidity in tomatoes meant that more lead from the pewter plates was ingested. It’s easy to see why people believed it was the tomato’s fault though!

#DailyLines #GoTELLTheBEESThatIAmGONE #Book9 #noitsnotdoneyet #soonthough #Illletyouknow #dontworry …

Posted by Diana Gabaldon on Wednesday, August 21, 2019

This is just another element of deep research that Diana Gabaldon has done for her books. It’s only small, and one of those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it type of inclusions. Why would many people even stop to wonder why a cook would believe a fruit (or vegetable depending on your stance) that we eat regularly today was poisonous?

It’ll certainly get a lot of people talking as we continue to wait for “Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone.”

What did you take from the Outlander Book 9 daily lines? What would you like to see from the daily lines next? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Outlander Book 9 is still in development and will hopefully be finished by the end of the year.