Farmer's market showing vegetables for sale in Lhasa, Tibet

Venn diagram representing the relationship between "vegetables" in the culinary sense, and "fruits" in the botanical sense.

Vegetables (and some fruit) for sale on a street in Guntur, India

Shop everything for your home improvement project. Find best deals on home appliances and gardening supplies with great savings!

Fruits, Vegetables

The term \"vegetable\" generally refers to the edible part of a plant. The definition is traditional rather than scientific. It is somewhat arbitrary and subjective, as it is determined by individual cultural customs of cooking and food preparation. more...

Home

Bath

Bedding

Baskets

Bottles

Candles, Candle Holders

Children's Decor

Clocks

Decorative Fruit

Decorative Plates, Bowls

Door Accessories

Fireplace Accessories

Floral Décor

Fountains

Globes

Holiday, Seasonal Decor

Home Fragrances

Mirrors

Other Home Décor

Photo Frame & Display

Pillows

Plaques & Signs

Racks, Stands, Hooks

Screens, Room Dividers

Vases

Crosses

Masks

Medallions

Message Boards, Holders

Other Wall Décor

Posters, Prints

Sconces

Shadow Boxes

Switch Plates, Outlet Covers

Animals

Flowers

Other

Sports

Lamps, Lighting, Ceiling...

Patio & Grilling

Pools & Spas

Rugs & Carpets

Normally, any herbaceous plant or plant part which is regularly eaten as food by humans would be considered to be a vegetable. Mushrooms, though belonging to the biological kingdom Fungi, are also generally considered vegetables in the retail industry. Nuts, seeds, grains, herbs, spices and culinary fruits (see below), are not normally considered to be vegetables, even though they are all parts of plants.

In general, vegetables are regarded by cooks as being most suitable for savory or salted dishes, rather than sweet dishes, although there are many exceptions, such as pumpkin pie and rhubarb crumble. Some vegetables, such as carrots, bell peppers and celery, are eaten either raw or cooked; while others, such as potato, are traditionally eaten only when cooked.

Is it a fruit or a vegetable?

The word \"vegetable\" is a culinary term, not a botanical term. The word \"fruit\" on the other hand can be a culinary term or a botanical term.

Botanically speaking, fruits are fleshy reproductive organs of plants, the ripened ovaries containing one or many seeds. Thus, many botanical fruits are not edible at all, and some are actually extremely poisonous. In a culinary sense however, the word \"fruit\" is only applied to those botanical fruits which are edible, and which are considered to be a sweet or dessert food such as strawberries, peaches, plums etc.

In contrast to this, a number of edible botanical fruits, including the tomato, the eggplant, and the bell pepper are not considered to be a sweet or dessert food, are not routinely used with sugar, but instead are almost always used as part of a savory dish, and are salted. This is the reason that they are labeled as \"vegetables\".

In other words it is quite legitimate for a plant part to be scientifically referred to as a \"fruit\", even though it is used in cooking or food preparation as a vegetable.

The question \"The tomato: is it a fruit, or is it a vegetable?\" found its way into the United States Supreme Court in 1893. The court ruled unanimously in Nix v. Hedden, 1893, that a tomato is correctly identified as, and thus taxed as, a vegetable, for the purposes of the 1883 Tariff Act on imported produce. However, the court did acknowledge that botanically speaking, a tomato is a fruit.

A list of vegetables defined as different parts of plants

Flower bud: broccoli, cauliflower; Seeds: peas, beans; Whole unripe seed pods: green beans, snap peas; Botanical fruit: tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, capsicums (bell peppers and hot peppers), eggplant, tomatillos, christophene, okra; Leaves: lettuce, kale, collard greens, spinach, beet greens, turnip greens, endive; Leaf sheaths: leeks; Buds: Brussel sprouts; Stems of leaves: celery; Stem of a plant: asparagus; Underground stem of a plant or tuber: potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes; Whole immature plants: bean sprouts; Roots: carrots, parsnips, beets, radishes, turnips; Bulbs: onions, garlic, shallots;