So I have some food sensitivity issues and in particular I don’t like raw tomato. They’re gooey and seedy and they just make me feel kind of weird. Unfortunately there are a lot of things, especially sandwiches, which use tomato as a fairly critical part of the flavor of the dish. So just taking it out isn’t ideally because it sometimes just makes the dish bland. I feel like processed tomato things like ketchup and tomato sauce don’t really fulfill the same kind of role in these dishes.
Does anyone have any opinions/suggestions on what types of foods could plausibly be used as a substitute for raw tomato? It could be anywhere, but I’m thinking of things like sandwiches, salads, etc.
Tomatoes are mildly acidic, so something similar should get you an approximation of the flavor. Pickled onions might be a good choice, or some other lightly pickled fruit/veg (maybe beets for salad). Actual dill pickles are not going to be too acidic to be a good substitute (but are a great thing to put on sandwiches in addition to tomato anyway).
Pineapple might work in some cases, but it has a strong flavor and sweetness that won’t work everywhere a tomato does. Salsas are a good place for this as a tomato substitute (along with mango and corn), but pineapple does also work well in some sandwiches.
I support beets as a substitute. Roasted they are sweeter with almost no acidity, while pickled would hit most of the tomato notes.