Tomato is a fruit

[boogiewoogie]

Discuss

Also, how to convince the pigheaded so and so....

It's a lovely example of the difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Knowledge is that a tomato is indeed a fruit.

Wisdom is knowing not to put one in a fruit salad.

It is a fruit, but also a vegetable (because there's no nice pedantic definition of vegetable).

I heard someone talking about how 'wrong' is a black and white concept, you are either 100% right or 100% wrong.
The person arguing that there are gradations of 'wrongness' used the tomato as an example. Saying a tomato is a type vegetable is a little wrong, saying a tomato is a type of suspension bridge is very wrong.

I can't remember exactly where I heard this - Big Bang Theory perhaps.

It is a fruit, but also a vegetable (because there's no nice pedantic definition of vegetable).

Indeed. People class mushrooms as 'vegetables' when they aren't even plants.

Here's some wiki:
Fruit (scientific): the ovary of a seed-bearing plant,
Fruit (culinary): any edible part of a plant with a sweet flavor,
Vegetable: any edible part of a plant with a savory flavor.
Vegetable (legal): commodities that are taxed as vegetables in a particular jurisdiction

So, tomatoes are scientific fruits. So are cucumbers (just we mostly eat seedless varieties), pumpkins, courgettes, aubergines(I think) - any more obvious ones?

Oh yes, peppers and chilis! Stick that in yer fruit salad

Should it not say 'Tomato are a fruit?'

Eh?

Or 'Is tomatoes a fruit?'

Particularly in Pendant's corner. How embarrassing.

Can I add that Raspberries, Strawberries and Blackberries are not technically berries either?

And peanuts aren't nuts.

While a goldfish is technically a carrot.

Vegetables can be fruit (e.g. tomatoes, cucumbers, beans in pods), seeds (e.g. peas), roots (e.g. carrots), stems (e.g. celery) or leaves (e.g. spinach).

Or aquatic creatures (e.g. goldfish)

Or Cabinet ministers, allegedly

and apples aren't fruit - the apple core is the fruit and the bit you eat is the swollen base of the flower