A friend brought this up, saying she’s heard various definitions of how to distinquish between a fruit & a vegetable, so I decided to ask here and if you could direct me to a definitive source. Thanks.
There are two definitions.
One is a botanical definition: a fruit is a ripened ovary.
The other is a cultural definition: a fruit is the sweet part of a plant, anything else is a vegetable. And so squashes and chiles and tomatos aren’t fruit.
Obligatory Cecil link
The way I would put it is that one is a botanical definition, and that’s the one Cecil is talking about in his article.
The other is the culinary definition, which can vary from culture to culture.
Ed
Note that there’s no sense in which the statement “A tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable” is true. If you’re using the botanical definition, then a tomato is indeed a fruit, but under the botanical definition, a vegetable is any edible part of a plant. So in the botanical sense, all edible fruits are vegetables, and it makes no more sense to ask “Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?” than it does to ask “Is a carrot a root or a vegetable?”, or “Is spinach a leaf or a vegetable?”.
If you eat it for dinner, it’s a vegetable.
If you eat it for dessert, it’s a fruit.
Go to a supermarket, you’ll find peppers and tomatoes in the vegetable section, and rhubarb in the fruit section. Carrot jam is popular in Portugal, which has led to carrots being classed as fruit.
So ice cream and cookies, a vegetable. My wife doesn’t see it that way.
If it tastes better with garlic, it’s a vegetable.
If it tastes better with chocolate, it’s a fruit.
Well, not really.
The ‘carrots reclassified as fruit!’ thing is a tabloid legend (along with "EC demands straight bananas!')
Pick it from a plant then it is a fruit. Dig out of the ground then it is a vegetable.
Strawberries = fruit
Potatoes = vegetable
Carrots = vegetable
Apple = fruit
etc.
Spinach? Lettuce? Celery? Beans? - all fruit by this definition.
It also includes brussel sprouts. No way are brussel sprouts a fruit!
Mmmmm… Sprouts and custard.
Harvey Milk was a fruit. Terry Schaivo was a vegetable.
Best response.
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
This made me laugh out loud. I’m going to Hell now, aren’t I?
You won’t believe how long I restrained myself from making a similar observation. I give you credit for being way more clever than I was going to be.
So if Milk hadn’t died, but lost all cerebral function, he’d have been a tomato?
Surely you jest :dubious:
I have a sneaky feeling I’ve been whooshed:smack:
Quite possibly. And Terry would be a cantaloupe.