Tomato Fact or Fiction Game
Materials:
Using index cards, write or type FACT on two cards and FICTION on two cards.
Write the statements given below on separate index cards.
Have one person be the scorekeeper and timer and another person is the game show host who reads the statement cards. Divide the rest of the class into two teams and give the teams a set of fact and fiction cards.
The host turns over the top statement and reads it to the first team. The scorekeeper watches the clock and the team has fifteen seconds to discuss it among themselves and determine whether it is a true statement or not. If they determine it is a true statement, they hold up the FACT card. If they determine it is not true, they hold up the FICTION card. If they guess correctly, they score one point. If they answer the question right, they have the choice of getting to answer another question. If they choose to answer another question and get it wrong, they loose a point and it is the other team’s turn. If they answered the first question wrong, the host and teacher can read and discuss why the statement was incorrect. (See list of statements.) They do not get another turn nor do they earn a point.
If a team has two points, they can request to go double or lose all. If they guess the answer correctly, they have 4 points. If they miss the question, they lose all their points.
STATEMENTS
Write the question at the top of the index card and the answer at the bottom in smaller print.
1. Mexico is the largest producer of tomatoes in the world.
2. On the average, every man, woman and child in the United States eats a total of 18 pounds of fresh tomatoes every year.
3. On the average, every man, woman and child in the United States eats less than 50 pounds of processed tomatoes, such as in sauces, salsa, and ketchup.
4. Tomatoes are actually a fruit.
5. Tomatoes have always been a popular food in the United States.
6. The tomato has relatives in its plant family that are poisonous.
7. Tomatoes are native to the Americas.
8. Tomatoes and potatoes are close members of the same plant family.
9. George Washington Carver, famous for developing 325 uses of peanuts, encouraged people to eat tomatoes.
10. The tomato doesn’t contribute very much nutritional value to the human diet.
11. Tomatoes are a good source of Vitamin C.
12. Spanish explorers brought tomato seeds back to Spain and tomatoes quickly became popular in the Mediterranean countries of Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
13. The first tomatoes that were cultivated or grown were very similar to those we eat today.
14. Tomatoes were once called ‘love apples‘.
- Index cards
- Markers
Using index cards, write or type FACT on two cards and FICTION on two cards.
Write the statements given below on separate index cards.
Have one person be the scorekeeper and timer and another person is the game show host who reads the statement cards. Divide the rest of the class into two teams and give the teams a set of fact and fiction cards.
The host turns over the top statement and reads it to the first team. The scorekeeper watches the clock and the team has fifteen seconds to discuss it among themselves and determine whether it is a true statement or not. If they determine it is a true statement, they hold up the FACT card. If they determine it is not true, they hold up the FICTION card. If they guess correctly, they score one point. If they answer the question right, they have the choice of getting to answer another question. If they choose to answer another question and get it wrong, they loose a point and it is the other team’s turn. If they answered the first question wrong, the host and teacher can read and discuss why the statement was incorrect. (See list of statements.) They do not get another turn nor do they earn a point.
If a team has two points, they can request to go double or lose all. If they guess the answer correctly, they have 4 points. If they miss the question, they lose all their points.
STATEMENTS
Write the question at the top of the index card and the answer at the bottom in smaller print.
1. Mexico is the largest producer of tomatoes in the world.
- FICTION the United States is the largest producer of tomatoes in the world.
2. On the average, every man, woman and child in the United States eats a total of 18 pounds of fresh tomatoes every year.
- FACT
3. On the average, every man, woman and child in the United States eats less than 50 pounds of processed tomatoes, such as in sauces, salsa, and ketchup.
- FICTION Actually, people eat a total of 70 pounds of processed tomatoes each year.
4. Tomatoes are actually a fruit.
- FACT Botanically speaking, they are the fruit of the plant because they contain seeds. Until the late 1800?s, the tomato was classified as a fruit to avoid taxation, but this was changed after a Supreme Court ruling said that the tomato is a vegetable and should be taxed. Judge Justice Gray wrote in 1893: Botanically speaking, tomatoes are fruits of a vine, just as are cucumbers, beans, and peas. But in the common language of the people all these are vegetables, which are grown in kitchen gardens, and which, whether eaten cooked or raw, are like potatoes, carrots, beets, lettuce, etc., usually served at dinner not like fruits, generally served as dessert.
5. Tomatoes have always been a popular food in the United States.
- FICTION English settlers were reluctant to eat them because they thought tomatoes were poisonous. They didn’t become a popular food until the last 1800?s.
6. The tomato has relatives in its plant family that are poisonous.
- FACT The tomato is a close relative to black nightshade that is a low branching plant that has flowers similar to a tomato but grows fruit the size of a berry that turns from green to purplish-black. Black nightshade grows in fields, ditches, around buildings, and in open woods and pastures. It doesn’t taste good or have a good texture so animals do not usually eat it.
7. Tomatoes are native to the Americas.
- FACT They were originally cultivated or grown by the Aztec and Incas in South America as early as 700 AD.
8. Tomatoes and potatoes are close members of the same plant family.
- FACT They both belong to the Solanaceae (pronounced: So-lan-A-see-ee) family.
9. George Washington Carver, famous for developing 325 uses of peanuts, encouraged people to eat tomatoes.
- FACT He strongly encouraged his poor Alabama neighbors to eat tomatoes in an effort to improve their vitamin-deficient diet.
10. The tomato doesn’t contribute very much nutritional value to the human diet.
- FICTION A University of California at Davis survey ranked the tomato as the single most important fruit or vegetable of western diets in terms of overall source of vitamins and minerals.
11. Tomatoes are a good source of Vitamin C.
- FACT
12. Spanish explorers brought tomato seeds back to Spain and tomatoes quickly became popular in the Mediterranean countries of Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
- FACT
13. The first tomatoes that were cultivated or grown were very similar to those we eat today.
- FICTION The original tomatoes were small berrylike fruits in clusters.
14. Tomatoes were once called ‘love apples‘.
- FACT Because of their heart shape and red color they were thought to be an aphrodisiac and called love apples.
