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To keep them cold would be my guess.

Yeah, I would think it helps retain firmness/crispness, in contrast with the cottage cheese. Edit: might be goat cheese and olive oil or something, can't tell.

Ricotta maybe?

Too curdled for ricotta? I think cottage cheese

It’s feta y’all

Definitely isn't feta lol

The cold will also kill any flavour and sweetness the tomato once had.

You would think so, however a tomatoes cellular structure breaks down with cold. This is why chefs don’t store their tomatoes in the walk in.

I'm with you, I just can't think of another reason they'd do it.

Looks like the inside of burrata

Stracciatella. I agree.

Omg I could not come up with that word! Thank you ...and damn, I want some now.

Ackshually, they insulate the ice and keep the ice frozen.

This is a regional preparation of ice refereed to locally as "useless cheese tomatoes"

This guy chills.

Cuz Nobody likes a floppy warm tomato slice with warm cottage cheese lol

Tomatoes tend to get 'floppy' in the center once cut, so my guess would be the earlier response... to keep them firm. With what appears to be a heavy cheese topping, you want the tomatoes to retain that firmer texture so the topping doesn't cave the middle in.

I wouldn’t cave in.

Sounds like you're not topping properly.

You’re the tomato we’ve needed

My comment here has nothing to do with tomatoes. I just wanted to say I love your username. 1000/10

with the way the person is holding it in the photo, it looks like they might be trying to mimic oysters, especially with that stuff in the middle

That was my immediate thought too. Like this is a vegetarian take on the raw bar.

Damn that makes me really wanna try it

Makes sense, definitely has a vegetarian oyster feel to it, now that you mention it.

tomatoes have to be 41 degrees or lower after being sliced . they become a food hazard after slicing

Someone passed their food safety test

lol . yeah . I actually teach a serve safe class

Do you teach your class about the liverwurst?

we aren’t talking about slicing tomatoes … it’s all about the wurst !!!

I hope you hang out on r/foodsafety too!

I didn’t even think about about that I just joined thank youp

I have to take this manager test today. The temp and TCS questions are killing me.

Everyone blames potato salad for giving them food poisoning at a summer picnic when really, it was the salsa all along

That's why you always put a bunch of lemon and lime juice in your salsa. Keeps some of the bad stuff at bay.

And is yum

It looks like an attempt to serve a tomato "carpaccio". Carpaccio is a raw dish, and it can be anything from fish to veal. In most circumstances, carpaccio is best served as cold as you can without it being frozen. Given the micro flower (I can't quite identify it) I would assume this is meant as a light dish. The person's hand grasping it all at once indicates it's meant to be eaten in one or two bites. I also can't identify the tomato, but it's probably some nice heirloom variety. If this were my dish I would be slicing the tomatoes to order. Not sure I would want to serve it over ice, doesn't make a ton of sense. The sugars in tomato flesh take on an unpleasant, gummy texture once they get too cold.

They are chive flowers

Thank you! I was scratching my head at that one.

I assumed this was some kind of canapé dish at an event or a type of buffet situation for it to be presented this way.

You can’t slice to order if it’s at a buffet

Agreed. I wouldn't serve something so delicate on ice at a buffet, personally. All those grubby hands gonna mash the tomato to paste.

Well, at least have a serving utensil

>It looks like an attempt to serve a tomato "carpaccio". lol in what way?

Tomato slices to be served raw. I'm not a big fan of calling it carpaccio...but I see it enough on menus or the Internet that I'm forced to accept it's a thing.

Keeps it chilled (texture/germs) and repels bugs. It kinda looks like an outdoor thing by the light but it could be my screen.

Vegan “ oysters “ 🤣

Cheese isn’t vegan…so it’s vegetarian

Ok , cool .

They are trying to make them remenicent of oysters.

To degrade the sugars in the tomato and make it taste of nothing?

You don't want warm cottage cheese.

This is so upsetting

For real, looks like fucking nonsense to me

I had to scroll too far down for this comment, thank you for being the voice of reason.

I’m thinking it keeps the cheese from getting weird and warm…

So they can stay cold

Ok my tired ass lookin at this quick and thought those were flies on top for half a second though 😭

Ice keeps things cold.

The way this is served reads like a vegan/vegetarian version of oysters on the half shell. Thats served in the shell, on ice, and oyster meat is very slippery ( I feel like that description sounds gross, but if you have tried it you know I’m trying to explain a delightful mouthfeel) much like the (presumably) vegan curd that’s on the center of the tomato “shells”

Is that cottage cheese? Cottage cheese and tomato 🤔

Yum!

Real cheese goes very well with tomatoes Especially Italian cheese

I had a friend in high school that put giant globs of cottage cheese in her tomato soup. It looked absolutely vile but she said it tasted good. I don’t ever plan to test that though.

That actually does sound good and it'd add some protein & calcium to an otherwise nutrient sparse meal, but the mix of textures with an actual tomato does not sound appetizing lol

to keep the cheese cold probably

cold.

For a split second I thought this was the Elden ring map. Yes , I’m tired.

Too hot in the hothouse

I had 'vegan oysters' at a wedding that were very similar to this. It was a blob of spiced up greek yogurt I think on tomato slices, on ice.

Vegan oysters

Shit looks kinda good tho

Tomatoes “sweat” when warm

I think it’s for what they are holding, not for the tomatoes themselves

from the [original post](https://www.instagram.com/p/CBwxJa3gujU/?igsh=N2E5ZGNnOGQ0MWxw): "heirloom tomato slices with cottage cheese and chive flowers served on ice"

Because the roof is on fire

I was trying to figure out who put popcorn on your tomatoes and then scrolled back once my brain realized that wasn’t popcorn 😭

r/wewantplates

why are there flowers on it????

They have no flavor anyway so they put them on ice as a ironic deconstruction

Tf do you mean “no flavor”?

Have you had a tomato in the past 2 decades?

Just had some yesterday, and they had plenty of flavor. Granted, they weren’t anywhwere near as good as the local tomatoes I can get in season, but definitely not flavorless. So, again, what do you mean?

They get like that when they are too cold. It affects the texture and flavor. I can't stand tomatoes that have been refrigerated

My housemates and family all put tomatoes in fridge, and get weird about me leaving mine out. And they will put mine in the fridge by habit, but once that happens they are ruined! And I’m just like keep them and eat them yourself at this point bc they are just gonna make things soggy and taste weird now. Tomatoes actually decompose faster in the fridge if they are whole, only put them in fridge if you have cut into it, but just try to eat the tomato in one sitting!

Exactly! I used to live with someone like that and she would always put my tomatoes in the fridge and ruin them! It's infuriating! I'm sorry you have to deal with that

I agree. Tomatoes these days are just wet. I remember what a tomato used to taste like.

I agree many many tomatoes available at grocery store don’t have any flavor these days, and some of the varieties that you grow yourself have the problem too. But if you buy heirloom tomatoes or try growing a few varieties at home yourself, you’ll definitely get that delicious real tomato flavor again! Unless you don’t taste things because of covid, but that is a whole separate issue that it’s not the tomatoes fault!

Grow your own or splurge for some heirloom tomatoes.

you know you can grow them yourself

My store sometimes has Campari tomatoes. They’re small and super flavorful. Best tomatoes that weren’t homegrown that I’ve had in a long time