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And Finally Artist News Gigs & Festivals
Tomatoes or singing, Ariana Grande forced to choose
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 31 May 2019
If we still ran our ‘Beef Of The Week’ column, this would definitely be this week’s main contender. Beef Tomato Of The Week, perhaps. Because this week we found out what constitutes Ariana Grande’s kryptonite. What is the one thing that can stop the pop star in her tracks? Tomatoes. Or tomatoes, as they say in the States. I guess that whole pronunciation thing doesn’t really work written down. Let’s call the whole thing off.
No, wait, let’s talk about this. It might be important. At the very least, it will raise awareness of this very serious issue. Earlier this week, Grande cancelled two US concerts. An initial statement from Live Nation blamed ill health. But Grande herself later revealed that she had been unable to perform more specifically because she had suddenly become allergic to tomatoes.
Updating fans on Instagram, she wrote: “We discovered that I had an unfortunate allergic reaction to tomatoes and my throat pretty much closed. Still feels like I’m swallowing a cactus but slowly making progress!”
She added that “there is nothing more unfair than an Italian woman developing an allergy to tomatoes in her mid 20s”.
I think we could probably dispute that claim. Though, I have to say, right now I can’t actually think of anything more unfair. But only because my mind is entirely occupied by the knowledge that someone had to cancel two concerts because they ate a tomato. I know how she feels. I’m allergic to dust. And it’s really annoying not being able to eat large handfuls of it anymore. I’ve never had to cancel work because of my dust allergy though.
Anyway, now that Grande has made the necessary changes to her diet – luckily, tomatoes are only used in basically all meals – she has rescheduled the missed shows for November.
