Scrumpyjackk  +  170437 Fri, 16 Dec 05 01:04 PM I am a little confused about the exactness of the definitions of what a fruit is and what a vegetable is. A fruit is: "the usually sweet part of a tree or bush which holds seeds and can be eaten" A vegetable is: "a plant, root, seed, or pod that is used as food, particularly savoury dishes" So why is a tomato a fruit and a pepper a vegetable? Any help would be appreciated. Jack Scrumpyjackk Joined on Mon, Jul 18 2005 New Member 05

	nona the brit  +  170445 Fri, 16 Dec 05 02:03 PM A tomato is sweet and it holds seeds. A pepper is savoury.   nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,713 The name says it all.

	khoff  +  170562 Fri, 16 Dec 05 10:13 PM A botanist would say that a tomato and a pepper are the fruit of the tomato and pepper plant, because they contain the seeds.  However, a cook would probably say they are both vegetables, because of the way they are prepared and served.  The categories are not really mutually exclusive.  khoff Joined on Sun, Mar 6 2005 Senior Member 3,264 Native speaker of American English (but not a grammar expert)

	Pemmican  +  170572 Fri, 16 Dec 05 10:57 PM Categories concerning food differ sometimes... I was told once not to argue with a native English speaker about whether "cauliflower" is (a) cabbage or not... For a German speaker it is, while for an English speaker it's not... As I said: It's no good argueing about that any deeper... Pemmican Joined on Thu, Aug 21 2003 Regular Member 569 Wâ mag ich mich nu vinden? wâ mac ich mich nu suochen, wâ? nu bin ich hie und bin ouch dâ und enbin doch weder dâ noch hie. wer wart ouch sus verirret ie? wer wart ie sus...

	MrPedantic  +  170623 Sat, 17 Dec 05 12:45 AM It's better not to mention Brassicaceae on this forum. They have been the cause of many a long grim thread. MrP MrPedantic Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004 Veteran Member 12,592 ...opella forensis / adducit febris...

	julielai  +  170668 Sat, 17 Dec 05 02:57 AM Tomato is generally considered as a veg. among Chinese, but my American friends insist it is a fruit. julielai Joined on Sun, Oct 24 2004 Senior Member 3,827 Just another blogger (http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/julie-lai)

	LanguageLover  +  170742 Sat, 17 Dec 05 09:30 AM And also you can find tomato juice in the fruit juice list! Though it doesn't seem a fruit to me, but apparently it is to many English speakers. If I wanna translate the Persian word for cauliflower, it'll be cabbage-flower, so it is a kind of cabbage in my country as well, Pemmican.   LanguageLover Joined on Fri, Feb 25 2005 Contributing Member 1,507 The similarities among the languages are more than their differences!

	Scrumpyjackk  +  170766 Sat, 17 Dec 05 10:45 AM Thanks for the help. I managed to confuse my school with this one and now I see why, there is no clear answer. It seems to be pretty arbitrary. I guess there's a grey area in the middle where you can put them where you want. Although officially a tomato is a fruit where I come from (Britain) I prefer to think of it as a vegetable. I think if it's in a grey area then look at how it's prepared and eaten. Still even better to not worry about such trifles (unless bored between classes as was the case with me). As for the cauliflower/cabbage debate I would think a cauliflower is more like a combination between a flower, broccoli and a cabbage. Thanks Jack Scrumpyjackk