Fruit or Vegetable? Trust your gut

For countless years, individuals have pondered over the true identity of the renowned fruit known as the tomato. While the tomato may be classified as a fruit, many individuals still believe that it should be considered a vegetable due to the way it is used in a savory manner rather than a sweet manner. There are other foods that fall under the umbrella of a vegetable that’s actually a fruit like cucumbers, peppers, gourds, and avocados. 

According to the World Health Organization, a fruit is the edible part of the plant which contains the seeds and its surrounding tissue as well as being generally sweet. A vegetable is a part of the plant itself, whether it be the root, the leaf, the stem or the tubers. Using this criteria we can finally differentiate that a good bit of vegetables are in fact fruits!

Why do many people considers these foods vegetables? 

According to the USDA, “A number of foods that are considered fruits by botanists are part of the Vegetable Group. For example, tomatoes, avocados, eggplants, cucumbers, green peppers, zucchini, butternut squash, and others are classified as fruits by botanists because they are the fleshy plant part surrounding its seeds.” They continue to say that for nutritional purposes, they’re considered to be vegetables rather than fruits due to the “nutrient content, use in meals, and taste.” Now these foods seem to lie in a limbo, trapped in an eternal swing between if they’re a vegetable or a fruit. 

The way I define foods like tomatoes and squashes is based on the question ‘Would you put it in a fruit salad?’. Would you put slices of a tomato in one, or Zucchini? Some eggplant? If your answer was no, then I consider that a vegetable. I believe these words have exceeded their initial definitions to encompass different foods, whether applicable or not. In layman’s terms, I believe vegetables and fruits have evolved to become more of a mindset than a definition.