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Tomatoes are vegetables. And yes, I see there is a comment lower down that tries to point out that tomatoes are fruits. But guess what, they're not mutually exc
by tolmasky 8y ago
Tomatoes are vegetables. And yes, I see there is a comment lower down that tries to point out that tomatoes are fruits. But guess what, they're not mutually exclusive. That is because fruits are a scientific term, and vegetable is a common or culinary term. From Wikipedia:
"Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans as food as part of a meal. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, leaves, roots, and seeds. The alternate definition of the term vegetable is applied somewhat arbitrarily, often by culinary and cultural tradition. It may exclude foods derived from some plants that are fruits, nuts, and cereal grains, but include fruits from others such as tomatoes and courgettes and seeds such as pulses."
- CydeWeys 8y agoThat makes sense to me. But, how about mushrooms? Do people consider mushrooms to be vegetables, or are there three different over-arching categories of food, meat, vegetables, and fungus? I'd argue that distinguishing between vegetables and funguses isn't very important, and that it'd be safe to lump all funguses into vegetables for purposes of food. I don't know if that's typically what's done, however. If there's going to be three categories, I would think meat, seafood, and vegetables (including funguses) would be more useful than going by scientific kingdom.
- nonbel 8y agoSeafood is meat, and mushrooms are their own thing (like a vegetable but not)
- dsr_ 8y agoPeople are strange and inconsistent. They name things without knowing their full history, and then those names sometimes persist well after they are known to be incorrect. Mushrooms are not vegetables; they are fungi. Fish are vegetables, as long as they have scales and fins.