My understanding is that this has less to do with the specific location the tomatoes are grown, and more to do with the distance from the point of consumption they are grown. If the tomatoes have to travel a long distance, they will be picked before ripe so that they are more hardy during transit. Unfortunately this significantly alters the taste for the worse. I don't really live in the U.S. anymore, but I used to pay extra for "tomatoes still on the vine" which would be a small step up. The best of course were those grown in your own garden.
We also use old fishtank water to fertilize our plants. Nitrogen!
You could also pee in a jug and dilute it with water.
I think the most important thing is the time between the tomato turns red and when you consume it. On a similar note, I find myself picking them when they are red or orange red, and waiting for them to turn red. I wonder if commercial farms pick them red and can them instantly, which is why canned tomato sauce tastes better than my tomato sauce.
Your understanding is not wrong, but it is not what this article is really about. There are lots of kinds of tomatoes, and there is at least one type that grows in the Mediterranean, that the author describes. If you are not familiar with this kind of tomato, you would simply reject it if you saw it: it doesn't look good, it is too large, too mushy, doesn't seem ripe. But then if you accidentally taste it, you realize that looks are not everything... I eat this kind of stuff when I'm in Greece, I'm guessing the Croatian variety is a bit different, but you can get these tomatoes in Italy or Spain as well. I presume they are not easy to transport, hence what you usually get in your average European supermarket is a produce of the Netherlands...
