Tomato: Fruit or Vegetable? Options

[coconutter]

It's a vegetable.

prove me otherwise?

[karmakiller]

It has seeds :shrugs:

Botanically, a tomato is the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant: therefore it is a fruit

"vegetable" has no botanical meaning and is purely a culinary term.

[MarcelleB]

well it has seeds so doesn't that make it a fruit

[brooklyneast05]

well that was fast

[Amaranthus]

It's nasty.
So it's a vegetable.

[tokyo-rose]

This is not a debatable topic. A tomato is a fruit.

[coconutter]

You mean it's a fruit because it has seeds in it?

I've just always seen it as a vegetable.

[Joanne]

I've just always seen it as a vegetable.

[freeridefight]

I've just always seen it as a vegetable.

I understand biologically it is a fruit. Technically yes it is.

[Melissa]

This is not a debatable topic.

exactly.

so why is it still here? are we past moving things to the VIP lounge? maybe we should call james, he'll move it in a jiffy.

OH JAMES, WHERE ART THOU?! ANOTHER TOPIC YOU CAN SHIP ON OVER TO THE VIP WHERE I WILL PROMPTLY MERGE IT WITH THE ORGY!!

[DontStealMyNameI...]

What about bananas?

[katebaybayy]

vegetable, all the way

[SpreadThePeace]

A tomato is a fruit. I used to think it was a vegetable, but I was wrong.

[Serendipity]

So a tomato is the fruit of the tomato plant, but can be used as a vegetable in cooking.

I think of it as a fruit, but it's not like you're going to take a whole tomato to school to eat as a snack. =p

[Relentless]

VEGETABLE.

But I know for a fact that it's a fruit, yet I still don't believe it. I say it's a vegetable.

[mackenziee]

^ same here, I've grown up with it as a vegetable, which makes it seem to be one, even if it isn't.

[*absinthe*]

It's nasty.
So it's a vegetable.

I grew up with it as a vegetable, but I know it's technically a fruit.

[CelestialAbyss]

If everyone wants to get really technical, it's a fruit vegitable. *yes there is that classification* It's concidered a vegitable because of it's low sugar content but is under the fruit subcategory of vegitable because of the seeds. Other vegitables that fall under this category are avocados and eggplants.

and yes, I did do my research on this one!!!!

[Tomates]

It may look like a vegtable...and taste like a vegtable
but those suckers are fruits.

I didnt find out until 4th grade.


EDIT: fine lets just call it a Vegafruit. Solves both conflicts

[heyo-captain-jac...]

I think of it as a fruit, but it's not like you're going to take a whole tomato to school to eat as a snack. =p

I do that. Tomatoes are delicious.

Anyway, it's a fruit. Vegetable just means it has no seeds in the edible part.

[karmakiller]

If everyone wants to get really technical, it's a fruit vegitable. *yes there is that classification* It's concidered a vegitable because of it's low sugar content but is under the fruit subcategory of vegitable because of the seeds. Other vegitables that fall under this category are avocados and eggplants.

and yes, I did do my research on this one!!!!

You seem like a reliable source for information about vegitables.

Weird to think that cucumbers are technically classified as fruits, too. Poor cucumbers, tomatoes are getting all the fame.

When you ask if something's a fruit or a vegetable you're using terms that apply to way different things. If you're asking how it's grown and how it's cooked then I'd say that it's both.

[Tomates]

My name means tomatoes in french : D
that slipped my mind also even though i took french.

[shoryuken]

VEGGI..

[nikx618]

FRUIT.
its a FACT.
not a debatable topic[;

[USCavalry]

it's actually a genetically modified fruigetable made in the year 2011 and sent back in time by scientists before the end of the world so that humanity might become stronger with its nutrition and have a chance at fighting off the zombie sloth invasion of 2012, which actually move freakishly fast

[Butterflyphoenix]

^

FRUIT.
its a FACT.
not a debatable topic[;

I agree.

[ofconfidence]

FRUIT.
its a FACT.
not a debatable topic[;

[shoryuken]

VEGGI

FRUIT.
its a FACT.
not a debatable topic[;

showww mee linkk..

^
I agree.

u dum..

[nikx618]

FACT

[Tomates]

everytime i see this forum i keep thinking it says tomates XD

[Eww]

We all thought it was a vegetable before.

We were all wrong, it's a fruit.
This isn't debatable.

[shoryuken]

VEGGIEE...

FACT

We all though it was a vegetable before.

We were all wrong, it's a fruit.
This isn't debatable.

u sttylll wrrongg...

[hi-C]

I think of it as a fruit, but it's not like you're going to take a whole tomato to school to eat as a snack. =p

I eat tomatoes as snacks. The littler ones, not the big ones. Roma tomatoes are excellent to just eat 'cos their flavor is a little more robust.

So, definitions of each term, according to the Oxford English Dictionary:
Tomato - The glossy fleshy fruit of a solanaceous plant (Solanum Lycopersicum or Lycopersicum esculentum), a native of tropical America, now cultivated as a garden vegetable in temperate as well as tropical lands.

Fruit - The edible product of a plant or tree, consisting of the seed and its envelope, esp. the latter when it is of a juicy pulpy nature, as in the apple, orange, plum, etc.

Vegetable - A plant cultivated for food; esp. an edible herb or root used for human consumption and commonly eaten, either cooked or raw, with meat or other article of food.

Also, according to the Columbia Encyclopedia:

There is no clear botanical distinction between vegetables and fruits. Most vegetables consist largely of water, making them low in calories. They are excellent sources of fiber, vitamins A and C, potassium, calcium, and iron.

Therefore, the difference between a fruit and a vegetable seems to be the latter's link to commodification (see the italicized part in the definition of vegetable).

[JokeInsideJoke]

vegetable. i dont care what science says, it. is. a. vegetable!

[coconutter]

It is a debate in a sense that you would like to debate what you believe it is, not based on science facts.

[so0o_contagious]

fruit. even brenda song says so! haha.

you only have to listen to the first 22 seconds.

[sixfive]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but until the 1920s the tomato was considered a vegetable. It was around that decade that people started considering it a fruit to avoid taxes that vegetables had. So.... Vegetable, renamed fruit by a society who wanted to avoid taxes :)

[Harp]

I think it's a fruit, but kyro serves a good point.

[sixfive]

It's not a point, it's a fact.

[creole]

It does not really matter if the tomato is a fruit or a vegetable. Either way, the flavors will still be the same..

[simx]

Ask a botanist and they'll tell you it's a fruit.
Ask a chef and they'll tell you it's a vegetable.

[hypnotique]

Ask a chef and they'll tell you it's a vegetable.

This chef says its a fruit.
I didnt waste 2 years in food sciences to think otherwise. :]

[creole]

For some reason, I always thought tomatos were related to apples. LOL

[hypnotique]

For some reason, I always thought tomatos were related to apples. LOL

Aww thats too cute

[Maccabee]

fruit

[illriginal]

I eat it like an apple with salt and pepper...

[shoryuken]

huu da h3ll eaat tommoto wyth peppur... WTF.. dat nastii

[creole]

huu da h3ll eaat tommoto wyth peppur... WTF.. dat nastii

maybe black pepper and tomatoes on top of spaghetti.
if yuuu know what im talking aboutz

[hypnotique]

I eat it like an apple with salt and pepper...

Holy shit me too.

Its bloody good =]

[illriginal]

Holy shit me too.

Its bloody good =]

Awesome

I even eat Cherry tomatoes like if they were candy.

[simx]

This chef says its a fruit.
I didnt waste 2 years in food sciences to think otherwise. :]

lol ok maybe not all chefs then