• TxzK@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    77
    ·
    10 months ago

    Biologically, tomatoes are fruit. Culinarily, tomatoes are vegetables.

      • variants
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        Ideally they are makeshift weed pipes

    • 0ops@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      10 months ago

      I dunno, even in a culinary sense, tomatoes are way too acidic to lump in with vegetables imo. The textures are totally different from veggies too

      • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        10 months ago

        Which veggies? Eggplant, zucchini, and potatoes all have very different textures.

        The difference is in flavor. Veggies are savory and fruits are sweet.

        • 0ops@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          10 months ago

          First, eggplants and zucchini are fruits too, and both are sweet, just not banana-sweet (in fact, try zucchini bread if you haven’t - best shit ever). Second, many veggies are sweet, like carrots, onions (though it’s masked until cooked), and …uh… sweet potatoes. Third, good tomatoes are absolutely sweet, not like candy but especially the little salad tomatoes aren’t very far removed from a grape, which I think we agree are a fruit. Then there’s olives, that bizarrely savory, dark fruit. They’re delicious but I’m pretty sure they’re from another planet.

          So overall I think, if we’re going to go by flavor, then imo acidity is the least ambiguous differentiator. Still not perfect, I’d rather just call it a fruit if it has seeds and isn’t a pod. I’ll give it to you on texture though

    • Nachorella@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      10 months ago

      I don’t think vegetable sounds right either. No one crushes up broccoli or carrots to make sauce for pizza and you don’t add tomatoes to your roast veggies.

    • Eagle0600@yiffit.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      10 months ago

      The problem with the culinary term “vegetable” is that, properly, it applies to any edible part of a plant, and improperly, it’s basically a useless distinction.

  • TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    do you know how this meme or bell curves work? should be the dummy saying vegetable, the majority saying fruit, and the genius (on the right…) saying it’s a vegetable

    • Ixoid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      10 months ago

      Why would the genius say something wrong like that? Tomatoes are fruit - grows on the vine, contains seeds inside it, fruits regularly without destroying the parent plant.

  • woodgen@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    10 months ago

    The left one should say “fruits”, while the right one should say “fruit”

  • dfc09@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    10 months ago

    I’ve always heard it’s intelligence that tells us tomatoes are fruit, but wisdom tells to use it like a vegetable in cooking

  • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    10 months ago

    Errbuddy wanna talk about tomatoes but the real question is, are bananas fruit? Some varietals are sweet and clearly belong in desserts and fruit salads, some are savory and starchy like potatoes, depending on the culinary tradition you come from they’re used in both contexts, and they can and should have seeds but they don’t due to selective breeding. Tomatoes exist in an ambiguous state, but bananas are somehow both at all times.

    • Canadian_Cabinet @lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      10 months ago

      Bananas are technically berries, which makes them a fruit. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone think of a banana as a non-fruit before

  • Pantherina@feddit.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    10 months ago

    “Vegetables” makes no sense.

    Tomatoes, grapes, apples, cucumber, pumpkin, eggplant, mushrooms, all fruits.

      • Pantherina@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        10 months ago

        We are talking about “fruits” here which isnt even a term used to describe plants. Maybe in english, not in german.

        • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          10 months ago

          mushrooms are not fruits in any sense. Fruiting body is applied colloquially however since spores are not fruits this is also incorrect.

          However much like with calling a tomato a fruit, it’s perfectly clear to call the penis loo lookin’ thing a fruiting body and only derranged pedants are bothered by it.

        • 0ops@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          10 months ago

          Fruits are a specific part of the plant, the seed-bearing part (pods and ferns are the exceptions, I guess). Veggies are the rest of the plant. Mushrooms are fungi’s and all, don’t get me wrong, but they’re not plants

    • bul@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      10 months ago

      I argue anyone who doesn’t think tomatoes taste like fruit hasn’t had a real tomato yet