>>510985227
Tomatoes are in the nightshade family, which are extremly poisonous. Europeans who first found them in the new world recognized them immediately, but as other anon said they were kept as a popular ornamental plant.
Tomatoes are only minorly toxic compared to deadly nightshade, they have a toxin known as tomatine that cuases nausea and modern plants have been bred to reduce this. 16th century plants had much higher levels of tomatine and due to nightshades reputation there was simply no reason to eat them.