Tomato - Fruit or veg?

[Lab Monkey]

Inspired by the flora and fauna quiz and the polls on food, I thought I'd throw this one at the masses. Is the humble tomato a fruit or a vegetable? You wouldn't see one in a fruit salad, and it complements a main course better than a fruit, but it just doesn't look like a vegetable, does it?


- "What am I? I'm confused."

 

[Gastric ReFlux]

It's a member of the nightshade family and a deadly poison. Don't eat it!

You shouldn't eat potatoes either because they aren't mentioned in the Bible.

Carry on.

 

[Dell19]

I voted for Fruit as it looks like fruit and is generally included in Salads...

 

[G-Man]

Tomatos and rice... I'm still not completely over it.

Anyway fruits taste good so a tomato can't be a fruit, although scientificly it is.

 

[CrazyScientist]

Anything with seeds inside it is technically a fruit I believe.

 

[Becka]

Originally posted by Gastric ReFlux
You shouldn't eat potatoes either because they aren't mentioned in the Bible.

Carry on.

*rimshot*




Fruit, but not a very good one.

 

[Zwelgje]

I consider it to be a vegetable, fruit is something I just eat when I feel like (meaning not as part of dinner or anything) and I don't just sit down and have a tomato so it's a veggie...

 

[Wolfe Tone]

How about a wierd freak of nature that tastes absolutly disgusting (unless it is made into tomato sauce)

 

[Ohwell]

How can so many people hate tomatoes! I love tomatoes!

It is a fruit scientifically, but is treated as a vegetable in foods so I voted vegetable.

 

[Padma]

FRUIT! (That's my biology degree coming out. )

 

[Rodgers]

A fruit and probably the one they eat in heaven the most - especially cherry tomatos - mmmmmm!!!

 

[drake]

Tomato may techincally be a fruit, but by its typical use, it is usually classified in the vegetable group.

Most fruits can be eaten plain, while most veggies, with a few exceptions of course, are usually used as compliments to another dish.

I've never seen someone take a nice ripe tomato and just bite into it like one would an apple. And you most certainly would never see tomatoes in a fruit salad. Youd find them in a lettuce based salad where the other veggies hang out

In any case, those that don't like them are missing out big time.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by G-Man
Tomatos and rice... I'm still not completely over it.

I can relate to that, being a regular rice person.

I have always thought it's a veggie. Don't care really 'cause I always keep as far away fr it as possible. Just hate the squashy feel.

 

[starlifter]

Technically, a tomato is Red. So I voted Vegetable. Because it is very very red.

 

[Lefty Scaevola]

Vegitable includes fruit.

 

[ComradeDavo]

fruit.......tomato's be fruit they be.

 

[Switch625]

Tomatos do look like vegetables, but they are fruit. Sort of like how peanuts look like nuts, but they are really peas (legumes, to be technical).

 

[MuddyOne]

Technically a fruit. But in cooking it is generally seasoned as a veg. would be.

 

[Shirannybl]

Tomato is technically and scientifically considered a fruit. But from remote times, when cooking became more an Art than a profession,tomato was used because of their red permanent color to decorate vegetables dishes.In my opinion at this time it was not intended to be eaten, just a decoration subject.
Shirannybl

 

[Pongui]

Drake: "I've never seen someone take a nice ripe tomato and just bite into it like one would an apple."

That's because one (almost) never sees a nice ripe tomato! If you pick one in late summer, at the apex of it's perfection, while it is warm from the sun and fragrent... oh the temptation to chomp that delicate FRUIT is irresistable.