# Are beans a vegetable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 13, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874 "2008-08-13T18:03:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/1 "2008-08-13T18:03:12Z")
While I was making lunch with a can of black beans, I noticed it had a slogan on the front, “The vegetable with more!” Now ignoring for a moment that ‘with more what?’ thought that must jump into other heads as it did mine, a question popped up, 'beans are a vegetable?" I was taught that vegetables are the root (like carrots), stem (like celery) or leaves (like lettuce) of a plant. And fruit is the ovaries and have seeds. Beans don’t seem to fit into any of these categories. So was I taught wrong about the definition of vegetable? Are beans something else? ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/2 "2008-08-13T18:11:30Z")
Beans are a vegetable in the casual culinary sense of the word, along with things like tomatos and cucumbers. This usage of vegetable has no (or very little) relationship to the use of vegetable in the botanical sense. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/3 "2008-08-13T18:24:42Z")
A vegetable is either a plant, the part of a plant that you eat, or a non-sweet part of plant that you eat. By any of those definitions, beans qualify. Some vegetables are roots, some vegetables are stems, some are leaves, and some are fruits. Some are in fact other parts of a plant entirely: Broccoli, for instance, is primarily flowers, and bulbs (onions and garlic) are more like stems than roots, but aren’t really either. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/4 "2008-08-13T18:30:22Z")
Beans are seeds. The pods (like string beans) are fruit. You eat them like vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/5 "2008-08-13T19:05:33Z")
Yup - what they said. Essentially, there is little clear definition of what is and is not a veggie. What constitutes a fruit, OTOH, is all about sex (botanically at least.) Next thing you know you are going to ask us what constitutes a grain! ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/6 "2008-08-13T19:28:26Z")
Ok, I’ll bite. What’s a grain? I though they were all grass types. Am I wrong again? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/7 "2008-08-13T19:45:03Z")
It depends on your definition of beans. If you are considering the entire vegetable, such as a runner bean then it is a vegetable. However, if you eat just the bean, as in kidney beans, then they are a pulse. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/8 "2008-08-13T19:54:15Z")
[QUOTE=I Have Hippos In My Garden] It depends on your definition of beans. If you are considering the entire vegetable, such as a runner bean then it is a vegetable. However, if you eat just the bean, as in kidney beans, then they are a pulse. [/QUOTE] The entire vegetable being roots, stems, leaves, and all? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/9 "2008-08-13T19:57:27Z")
> [@](#): > > The entire vegetable being roots, stems, leaves, and all? No sorry, in the case of the runner bean i should have said if you eat the entire fruit of the plant. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/10 "2008-08-13T20:09:21Z")
Beans are [legumes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legume), along with peas, lentils and peanuts. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/11 "2008-08-13T20:14:20Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] Beans are [legumes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legume), along with peas, lentils and peanuts. [/QUOTE] As are clover and alfalfa. ---
**Author:** ![KRSOradio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/0ea827/32.png) [@KRSOradio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRSOradio)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/12 "2008-08-13T20:20:34Z")
I’ve always considered wax beans and green beans as veggies but pinto beans and black beans as starches like potatoes ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/13 "2008-08-13T20:21:19Z")
Well, if one were to employ the logic set forth in _[Nix v. Hedden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nix_v._Hedden)_ (SCOTUS, 1893), beans would probably be considered vegetables regardless of their botanical classification. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/14 "2008-08-13T22:15:39Z")
And to confuse matters further, some nutrition charts and lists categorize them as Meat, because they can be eaten as a source of protein. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/15 "2008-08-13T22:58:36Z")
[QUOTE=Stealth Potato] Well, if one were to employ the logic set forth in _[Nix v. Hedden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nix_v._Hedden)_ (SCOTUS, 1893), beans would probably be considered vegetables regardless of their botanical classification. 😃 [/QUOTE] According to that: > [@](#): > > In making his decision, Justice Gray mentioned another case where it had been claimed that beans were seeds — Justice Bradley, in Robertson v. Salomon, 130 U.S. 412, 414, similarly found that though a bean is botanically a seed, in common parlance a bean is seen as a vegetable. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/16 "2008-08-14T00:39:50Z")
Plant life as a whole is included in the vegetable kingdom, so all plants are vegetables in the biological sense (“Animal, mineral, or…”). All fruits are vegetables, then, or at least part of a vegetable; the same would seem to hold true for leaves, roots and seeds when we are speaking of “vegetables” meaning foods not animal in origin. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/17 "2008-08-14T01:22:19Z")
Why is this being danced around so? Beans are part of the fruit, or reproductive part of a plant. The non-reproductive parts are vegetables. In some contexts all parts of a plant are considered vegetable (as in animal, vegetable or mineral). But otherwise beans are fruit. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/18 "2008-08-14T01:28:09Z")
[QUOTE=sunacres] Why is this being danced around so? Beans are part of the fruit, or reproductive part of a plant. The non-reproductive parts are vegetables. In some contexts all parts of a plant are considered vegetable (as in animal, vegetable or mineral). But otherwise beans are fruit. [/QUOTE] Except in a culinary sense where they are vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/19 "2008-08-14T01:28:39Z")
“Beans, beans, the musical fruit The more you eat, the more you toot.” ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874/20 "2008-08-14T01:45:35Z")
[QUOTE=sunacres] Why is this being danced around so? Beans are part of the fruit, or reproductive part of a plant. The non-reproductive parts are vegetables. In some contexts all parts of a plant are considered vegetable (as in animal, vegetable or mineral). But otherwise beans are fruit. [/QUOTE] Ditto. ‘Vegetable’ is not a botanical classification, it’s primarily a dietary one. Vegetables are non-animal-source non-sweet foods. Botanically speaking, if it has a seed, it’s a fruit; grows above ground, it’s vegative growth (shoots or leaves); grows under ground, a root. Vegetables can be roots, shoots, leaves, or fruit; potatoes, rhubarb, spinach, or tomatoes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-beans-a-vegetable/459874.md?page=2)