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AIBU?

if you are the sort of person who argues a tomato is a fruit not a vegetable

119 replies

ethelb · 30/03/2015 17:12

What you think a vegetable is?

OP posts:
ToadsJustFellFromTheSky · 30/03/2015 17:13

But a tomato is a fruit. Confused

MoominKoalaAndMiniMoom · 30/03/2015 17:14

A carrot, of course.

ethelb · 30/03/2015 17:14

So are most vegetables. Why do people argue that a tomato is a fruit, but rarely say an aubergine?

OP posts:
PHANTOMnamechanger · 30/03/2015 17:14

a vegetable does not have seeds INSIDE it

so technically things like courgettes and cucumbers etc are also fruits not vegetables.

PelvicFloorClenchReminder · 30/03/2015 17:14

You can vegetablise it all you like, won't stop it being a fruit.

ToadsJustFellFromTheSky · 30/03/2015 17:15

Well technically an aubergine is a fruit too. As are bell peppers.

ethelb · 30/03/2015 17:16

Or a pumpkin?

OP posts:
AGnu · 30/03/2015 17:16

Because no-one in their right minds would eat an aubergine so who cares what it's technically classified as?

ethelb · 30/03/2015 17:16

Why do people not get snarky about chillies being fruits, not vegetables?

OP posts:
GlacindaTheTroll · 30/03/2015 17:17

Stuart: Ooh, Sheldon, I’m afraid you couldn’t be more wrong.

Sheldon: More wrong? Wrong is an absolute state and not subject to gradation.

Stuart: Of course it is. It’s a little wrong to say a tomato is a vegetable, it’s very wrong to say it’s a suspension bridge.

Stratter5 · 30/03/2015 17:17

I know it's a fruit really, but c'mon you wouldn't put it in a fruit salad.

Non technical classification of fruit and veg - fruit is pudding stuff, vegetables are savoury. Pfft to the pips.

ToadsJustFellFromTheSky · 30/03/2015 17:19

Even though I know tomatoes, aubergines and peppers are fruits I still refer to them as vegetables when cooking with them.

So maybe I'm not one if those people you're thinking of after all, OP.

ethelb · 30/03/2015 17:19

I will get to the point. On my botany/plant science degree, it was never ever suggested that something being considered a vegetable was mutually exclusive with being a fruit.

A vegetable is a cultural defination, not a scientific one.

Why do people think it is a point of argument at all?

OP posts:
PHANTOMnamechanger · 30/03/2015 17:19

Why do people argue that a tomato is a fruit, but rarely say an aubergine?

Ah, I see, you are talking about the people who make a big deal of telling you "a tomato is a fruit dontcha know", thinking they are clever, because they are repeatig it parrot fashion having heard it on a pub quiz or kids facts programmes - but they do not know the reason, so never realise other common so-called "veg" are actually technically fruits too. Either that or they have no idea as they don't eat many varieties of fresh F&V and/or have no idea how things grow (ie what PART of the plant - ie leaf stalk root flower or fruit - they are eating)

fairyfuckwings · 30/03/2015 17:19

My 7 year old daughter always has cherry tomatoes in her fruit salad as she argues that because it's a fruit it should be included.

I'd not thought about courgettes etc. I'll see if she wants some of those in too!

Theas18 · 30/03/2015 17:19

A tomato is a fruit. It has seeds inside it. That makes it a fruit.

To quote Miles Kington:

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Stratter5 · 30/03/2015 17:20

So if fruit is anything with seeds inside, strawberries are vegetables, and more vegetables are actually fruit than vegetables?

Needs a new method of differentiating imo.

LineRunner · 30/03/2015 17:21

There are salad vegetables, which are fruits, and there are root vegetables, which are vegetables.

My invoice will be in the post.

Although potato salad fucks that theory.

ethelb · 30/03/2015 17:21

Phanto exactly. Don't they realise it makes them sound a bit thick and like someone with no scientific understanding whatsoever?

A bit like the arts grad writers who write Big Bang Theory Glacindathetroll

OP posts:
CallMeExhausted · 30/03/2015 17:21

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not adding it to your fruit salad.

Hassled · 30/03/2015 17:23

I've been moved to look up a definition of vegetable. It is:
"a plant or part of a plant used as food, such as a cabbage, potato, turnip, or bean."
That implies you could include wheat, barley, maize etc?

AuntieStella · 30/03/2015 17:23

I thought vegetables were all edible plant (and fungus) parts (leaf/stem/root/bulb) that were not otherwise defined as fruits, nuts or grains.

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PHANTOMnamechanger · 30/03/2015 17:23

it makes them sound a bit thick

I deliberately avoided using that word for fear of the backlash!!

ethelb · 30/03/2015 17:23

Stratter the point is there is no point of differentiation.

OP posts:
Hassled · 30/03/2015 17:24

Also: "any plant whose fruit, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, leaves, or flower parts are used as food"

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