Thread: Fruit or Vegetable?

I'm not interested in finding out which one is supposedly healthier for you- I can't even ask that question because I have trouble differentiating between what is a fruit and what is a vegetable

So here's my dillema: What is considered a fruit and what is considered a vegetable?

My annoying roomate complains about everything including where I leave the vegetables/fruits in the fridge.

Our fridge has two compartments at the bottom: the left side says fruits and the right says vegetable

Long story short he didn't like the fact that I mixed my tomatoes with his apples...

Aren't tomatoes fruits?
I eat em raw/straight just like I would eat his apples if I liked those acidic things...
Help me out so I can shut him up

seeds=fruit; no seeds(root/leaf)=vegetable

Eggplants have seeds....and they are vegetables.

Originally Posted by Polarbear

Eggplants have seeds....and they are vegetables.

sike...its a fruit somebody played you

fruit grows on trees and shrubs, veggies come straight out of the earth....thats what my grandmother told me

Originally Posted by Breechay

I'm not interested in finding out which one is supposedly healthier for you- I can't even ask that question because I have trouble differentiating between what is a fruit and what is a vegetable

So here's my dillema: What is considered a fruit and what is considered a vegetable?

My annoying roomate complains about everything including where I leave the vegetables/fruits in the fridge.

Our fridge has two compartments at the bottom: the left side says fruits and the right says vegetable

Long story short he didn't like the fact that I mixed my tomatoes with his apples...

Aren't tomatoes fruits?
I eat em raw/straight just like I would eat his apples if I liked those acidic things...
Help me out so I can shut him up

Best to call it all organic, otherwise you are opening a real can of worms.

oh ja and tomatoes ARE a fruit - they are related to the cherry family or something....hahaha i just realised how ridiculus that sounds 8) but its troo

strawberries arn't fruit either, if you go by the botanical technicalities, its a enlarged end to the plants stamen and the seeds are on the outside


fruits are described as a mature ovary of a flowering plant, usually with seeds encapsulated in a soft tissue and vegetables are the edible part of herbacious plants and usually fit into leaves,stalks,roots, tubers,bulbs and flowers

but then it gets confusing as grains are also classed as fruits as are nuts. It depends how anal you want to go with botany :-D

Didn't they use the same people to re-classify the planets recently... 8)

speaking of food the difference between fruits and vegetable are based upon the level of sugar in it
a lot of sugar : fruits
less sugar : vegetables
There might be some exceptions, but you get the idea

hahahaha...."the strawberry is no longer considered a fruit, according to latest research done by......"how is that though; pluto no longer a planet coz some scientist woke up on the wong side of the bed and thought "hell, im going to de-badge pluto, take away it planetary status"....ok wrong thread but hey same issue. its funny how sometimes we limit/define things according to our language barrier or imagination....how about this....if u buy it in the fruit section, put it in the fruit section; if you buy it in the veggie section put it in the veggie section! that simple 8)

As ophiolite might say, If it looks like a duck, if it tastes like a duck, if it walks like a duck , its not a fruit!

Originally Posted by DrNeedles

hahahaha...."the strawberry is no longer considered a fruit, according to latest research done by......"how is that though; pluto no longer a planet coz some scientist woke up on the wong side of the bed and thought "hell, im going to de-badge pluto, take away it planetary status"....ok wrong thread but hey same issue. its funny how sometimes we limit/define things according to our language barrier or imagination....how about this....if u buy it in the fruit section, put it in the fruit section; if you buy it in the veggie section put it in the veggie section! that simple 8)

thats what i put a few posts up, botanically i dont think it was ever a fruit

because the seeds are on the outside?? i guess that makes sense coz ants have exoskeletons and therefore are not mammals, so yes u could be onto something...

I just asked my young niece how she can tell the difference between fruit and vegetables,

"Well, fruit tastes nice and vegetables are yurgh!"

I said, "what about if you can't taste them?"

"Oh that's easy, fruit are nice colors but vegetables are all green"

Well, that's it then potatoes are fruit, unless they grow near the surface in wnich case they are a hybrid. Bananas start out as vegetables but end up as fruit. Apples, grapes, and peppers can be either. 8)

hahaha! i wouldnt ask her to cook me dinner steamed carrots, baked strawberries served with spinach and unripe potatoes....and for dessert carrots with steaming hot custard....imagine imagine if we could reclassify EVERYTHING! woohoo! i wud keep strawberries in the fruit basket though!! is it true that carrots are healthier when cooked?? wierd if it is!

i think its amazing that nuts are fruit, exept peanuts(and probably some other obscure ones)

i dont consider those fruits at all....never have and probably never will....what are they exactly?? they arnt fruit nor are they vegetable and they certainly not meat not even startch or grains really?? i think nuts are a breed of their own really

Originally Posted by DrNeedles

i dont consider those fruits at all....never have and probably never will....what are they exactly?? they arnt fruit nor are they vegetable and they certainly not meat not even startch or grains really?? i think nuts are a breed of their own really

I'd hate to ask young Katie what nuts are, she'd probably say 'idiots' or something, Odd ones nuts, as they are the seeds, but just not surrounded by soft fleshy parts, (Until the wife starts eating them).

There is no classification of one or the other where it is not violated by some edible organic construction. Perhaps we should just lump them all together and call then vegtaruits, or fruitables.

heres a better explanation, hopefully this is ok to post

Which brings us to the nut. Yes, you guessed it, a nut is, in botany, "a dry, one-seeded, usually oily fruit." True nuts include the acorn, chestnut, and hazelnut. The term nut also refers to any seed or fruit with a hard, brittle covering around an edible kernel, like the peanut, which is really a legume. A legume is defined as "(the) name for any plant of the pulse family; more generally, any vegetable. Botanically, a legume--a pod that splits along two sides, with the seeds attached to one of the sutures--is the characteristic fruit of the pulse family." Say what? A "pulse" is "the common name for Leguminosae or Fabaceae, a large family of herbs, shrubs, and trees, also called the pea, or legume, family.

makes alot more sense than i would

I thought you just called them 'UG urrgh'(veg) and 'UG ahhh!' (fruit) :wink:

"vegtafruits and fruitables" hahaha! i like that!

well it all amkes a bit more sense now captain! thanks 4 the explaination! but a nut is still a nut if u catch my drift

Originally Posted by DrNeedles

"vegtafruits and fruitables" hahaha! i like that!

well it all amkes a bit more sense now captain! thanks 4 the explaination! but a nut is still a nut if u catch my drift

yeah, botanists probably have too much time on their hands :wink:

Originally Posted by DrNeedles

"vegtafruits and fruitables" hahaha! i like that!

well it all amkes a bit more sense now captain! thanks 4 the explaination! but a nut is still a nut if u catch my drift

OK Doc,

Now you need to learn the expression LMAO to save you writing all those HAHA's or use the smiley's

LMAO = Laughing My Ass Off..

hahahaha, excuse me, i mean LMAO!

If it's part of the main meal, it's a vegetable, if it's on the dessert trolley it's a fruit. (please note though I do not consider steak as a vegetable or a fly as fruit :wink: ). How about that for a new explanation?

Please also rmember the wheels on the trolley are not a fruit either, they may be fruit encrusted but that's a different subject!

What's wrong with the current classification? just because you were all raised in ignorance, doesn't mean you have to bring the rest of the world down. As for strawberries, i believe the "seeds on the outside" are actually the fruit. they contain a seed or something. they are referred to as achenes...atleast that's what they said in plant bio last year.

personally i think it's cool that our favourite berries -raspberries, strawberries, blackberries - are not berries at all... oh my!

Originally Posted by Draculogenes

What's wrong with the current classification? just because you were all raised in ignorance, doesn't mean you have to bring the rest of the world down. As for strawberries, i believe the "seeds on the outside" are actually the fruit. they contain a seed or something. they are referred to as achenes...atleast that's what they said in plant bio last year.

personally i think it's cool that our favourite berries -raspberries, strawberries, blackberries - are not berries at all... oh my!

You are obviously ignorant. of the term 'light hearted discussion'.

Originally Posted by Megabrain

You are obviously ignorant. of the term 'light hearted discussion'.

That was a very stratigic period there, MB.

I think we should rename "fruits and nuts"...In Texas we call them "Californians". j/k :-D

Mac, my spell checker seems to have a mind of it's own, oviously it sometimes goes through a sticky period...

"light hearted discussion".. i don't understand... this term is far beyond my capacity...i am only capable of feeling hatred. maybe some day when you can find time, you can teach me how to be jsut as cool as you.

S'easy relax eat plenty of fruitables it'll come...

so what wud a coconut be?

Originally Posted by DrNeedles

so what wud a coconut be?

A whole coconut including the outer coir fiber coating is a "fruit". The coir fiber (which is removed where the coconuts grow before being shipped to our shops) is the ovary wall.

Oh easy, Cocovegtafroot - special category, only the banana is in there with it.

Originally Posted by Megabrain

Oh easy, Cocovegtafroot - special category, only the banana is in there with it.

i wasn't sure if it was Cocovegtafroot myself or fruityveggynut :wink: or maybe its fruit n nut?

wasn't sure if it was Cocovegtafroot myself or fruityveggynut or maybe its fruit n nut?

thats y i asked...personally i thought it wud be a frut or nuit? oh well i was wrong :wink: