# What's the difference between fruits and vegetables? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [June 12, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951 "2012-06-12T20:13:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Niteowl255](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Niteowl255](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niteowl255)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/1 "2012-06-12T20:13:24Z")
I just want to clarify something. So fruits ARE vegetable? Are they just a sub-category of veggies? Reading that article I didn’t come away with a clear understanding of either. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/2 "2012-06-12T22:16:08Z")
> **[What’s the difference between fruits and vegetables?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342753/what-s-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables)** > > A STAFF REPORT FROM THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD It’s actually a Science Advisory Board supplement, not something from Cecil himself. As **Terey** says in the article, it is confusing because, while there is a precise botanical definition of “fruit,” it’s not exactly congruent with the culinary definition. That’s because we think of things as fruits if they’re sweet, juicy, and, typically, something you can snack on, while vegetables are savory and more likely to be found as part of a prepared dish. Therefore, things that are anatomically fruits but which are traditionally consumed the same way we eat vegetables (tomatoes, squash, cucumbers) are culinarily (and commonly) thought of as veggies. And this makes sense because these fruits are nutritionally closer to eating broccoli or carrots than starfruit or pineapple. But if you’re talking about the technical definition, then a fruit is a mature ovum, nuts and grains are subcategories of fruit, and vegetables are any edible part of a plant that isn’t a fruit. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/3 "2012-06-13T08:55:02Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > But if you’re talking about the technical definition, then a fruit is a mature ovum, nuts and grains are subcategories of fruit, **and vegetables are any edible part of a plant that isn’t a fruit**. No, vegetable is a purely culinary term, not a botanical. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/4 "2012-06-13T16:57:49Z")
> [@Niteowl255](#): > > I just want to clarify something. So fruits ARE vegetable? Are they just a sub-category of veggies? > > Reading that article I didn’t come away with a clear understanding of either. Here is an interesting case from memory. The SC was asked to decide whether a Tomato was a fruit or vegetable for Tariff purposes. > **[Nix v. Hedden, 149 U.S. 304 (1893)](https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/149/304/)** > > Nix v. Hedden ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/5 "2012-06-13T18:29:09Z")
Vegetable is a culinary term. Fruit can be either a culinary term or a botanical term. Comparing the botanical definition of fruit to the culinary definition of vegetable is non-sensical. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/6 "2012-06-13T19:14:01Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > No, vegetable is a purely culinary term, not a botanical. Yes – I was careless there. –Cliffy ---
**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:** [June 13, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/7 "2012-06-13T19:15:40Z")
What I can’t understand is why everyone always fixates on fruits for this question. People will say that “a tomato isn’t really a vegetable; it’s really a fruit”. But nobody ever says “a carrot isn’t really a vegetable, it’s really a root”, or “spinach isn’t really a vegetable; it’s really a leaf”. All vegetables are parts of plants, and many different kinds of plant parts can be vegetables. Some vegetables are fruits, some are roots, some are leaves, and some are various other parts of plants. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/8 "2012-06-13T23:43:50Z")
“Vegetable” is _not_ an exclusively culinary (or dietary) term. It has been used in English to refer to non-animal life generally since the middle ages, and that is, in fact, the original meaning. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/9 "2012-06-14T01:38:58Z")
as in "animal, mineral or vegetable?’ ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/10 "2012-06-14T01:54:27Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > “Vegetable” is _not_ an exclusively culinary (or dietary) term. It has been used in English to refer to non-animal life generally since the middle ages, and that is, in fact, the original meaning. Has been and is do not mean the same thing. Do you have evidence that it is currently commonly in use as anything other than a culinary or dietary term? ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/11 "2012-06-14T10:28:21Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > “Vegetable” is _not_ an exclusively culinary (or dietary) term. It has been used in English to refer to non-animal life generally since the middle ages, and that is, in fact, the original meaning. I should have added “in this context”. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/12 "2012-06-14T11:59:08Z")
If you pluck it off the plant and eat it, it’s a fruit. If you’re eating the plant, it’s a vegetable. Of course that means that pumpkins are fruits because they’re picked off a pumpkin vine, but there you go. ---
**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:** [June 14, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/13 "2012-06-14T16:52:31Z")
That definition would also make spinach a fruit. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/14 "2012-06-14T21:27:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That definition would also make spinach a fruit. Also parsley. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/15 "2012-06-14T21:57:55Z")
This thread obviously needs a link to a certain [Frank Zappa song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZvFoSI5VN8). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/16 "2012-06-14T23:06:33Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever met an adult who had a problem with this. Everybody seems to know that all plants are vegetables, and some of them have fruit. Everybody may not know a formal definition for fruit, but they have a pretty good idea, and it’s pretty easy to explain. I just don’t see this as a great mystery, or area of widespread ignorance either. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/17 "2012-06-15T03:31:51Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Has been and is do not mean the same thing. Do you have evidence that it is currently commonly in use as anything other than a culinary or dietary term? “Animal, vegetable, or mineral” has already been mentioned. Aside from that, the OED cites it as recently as 1978. ---
**Author:** ![moronpolitics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@moronpolitics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moronpolitics)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/18 "2012-06-15T20:37:02Z")
“No, vegetable is a purely culinary term, not a botanical.” Not being impolite I hope but so what? Vegetable still refers to a part of a plant that you eat which is not a fruit or nut. In THIS context, the context of the question the culinary definition is what matters. The questioner was obviously not a botonist or biology major. They were just asking what is the difference that causes some plant products to be called fruits and others called vegetables. Adding to the very good answer to which you took exception I would say that “fruit” almost always refers to SWEET objects that cover or contain the seed of the plant. Nuts are seeds covered with a hard shell. An apple or peach or mango is the typical “fruit”. Things with result from a mature flower, but are not sweet are generally called vegetables even though they contain the seeds. Squash, pumpkins, eggplants (gross) and okra will almost always be called vegetables by almost everyone. I except botonists and other troublemakers, ok? Tomatoes cause some people to hesitate because they are soft like most fruits, but…well, most people decide… they aren’t QUITE sweet enough so maybe they’re a vegetable. I would say that tomatoes are the dividing line for most people. Now WOMEN contain the eggs, like the seeds of the next generation so is that why effeminate men are called fruits? ---
**Author:** ![eastcheap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@eastcheap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eastcheap)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/19 "2012-06-16T04:46:15Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Do you have evidence that it is currently commonly in use as anything other than a culinary or dietary term? Vegetable dyes. Vegetable fibers. Vegetable tanning. Those are just the three that immediately popped into my head. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951/20 "2012-06-16T06:35:38Z")
> [@moronpolitics](#): > > “No, vegetable is a purely culinary term, not a botanical.” Not being impolite I hope but so what? Vegetable still refers to a part of a plant that you eat which is not a fruit or nut. In THIS context, the context of the question the culinary definition is what matters. The questioner was obviously not a botonist or biology major. They were just asking what is the difference that causes some plant products to be called fruits and others called vegetables. Adding to the very good answer to which you took exception I would say that “fruit” almost always refers to SWEET objects that cover or contain the seed of the plant. Nuts are seeds covered with a hard shell. An apple or peach or mango is the typical “fruit”. Things with result from a mature flower, but are not sweet are generally called vegetables even though they contain the seeds. Squash, pumpkins, eggplants (gross) and okra will almost always be called vegetables by almost everyone. I except botonists and other troublemakers, ok? Tomatoes cause some people to hesitate because they are soft like most fruits, but…well, most people decide… they aren’t QUITE sweet enough so maybe they’re a vegetable. I would say that tomatoes are the dividing line for most people. Now WOMEN contain the eggs, like the seeds of the next generation so is that why effeminate men are called fruits? Me wonders why some men are called nuts.😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-fruits-and-vegetables/624951.md?page=2)