When was tomato first brought to the attention of the rest of the world?

Answer 1

"Rest of the world" as opposed to whom?

Tomatoes weren't even considered edible until the 1800's or so... and it was after someone finally figured out you could make sauce and soup out of them.

Before that time, they were thought to be poisonous and were only grown as yard ornaments.

Oops... 16th century apparently, just not in North America:

History of Tomatoes
Contrary to popular belief, tomatoes have been grown as a food since the 16th century, though they have in various times and places been regarded as both poisonous and decorative plants.

The Italian name for the tomato is pomodoro, meaning "apple of love" or "golden apple," because the first to reach Europe were yellow varieties.

Tomatoes were not cultivated in North America until the 1700s, and then only in home gardens. In colonial America (1620-1763), tomatoes were thought to be poisonous and were grown as an ornamental plant called the "love apple." The odor of the leaves made people think it was poisonous. Thomas Jefferson was raising tomatoes by 1782. Most people of that century paid little attention to tomatoes. Only in the next century did they make their way into American cookbooks, always with instructions that they be cooked for at least three hours or else they "will not lose their raw taste."

1809 - According to the article from The Thomas Jefferson Society called Thomas Jefferson's Favorite Vegetables by Peter J. Hatch regarding Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3rd President of the United States:

Jefferson was a pioneer grower of "tomatas." Beginning in 1809, he planted this grudgingly accepted vegetable yearly, usually in square X near the midpoint of the garden. Jefferson's daughter, Martha, and daughters, Virginia and Septimia, left numerous recipes that involved tomatoes, including gumbo soups, cayenne-spiced tomato soup, green tomato pickles, tomato preserves, and tomato omelettes. Tomatoes were purchased in 1806 for Presidential dinners.