can any body tell me why a tomatoe is classed as a fruit not a vegetable?

Question

i am aware of the changes regarding the european commission, and that they are sort of the powers that be,with regard to what we eat and how we term it, but from been a lad a tomatoe was always a vegetable, has any one got any views on this? and would you agree with me, that it should remain a veg.

Answer 1

Cuz ppl are retarded....lol...there should be an exception made for this one fruit and it SHOULD be considered a vegetable, being that it has more in common (for usage, taste etc) with vegetables than with fruits.

Answer 2

The confusion about 'fruit' and 'vegetable' arises because of the differences in usage between scientists and cooks. Scientifically speaking, a tomato is definitely a fruit. True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant (though cultivated forms may be seedless). Blueberries, raspberries, and oranges are true fruits, and so are many kinds of nut. Some plants have a soft part which supports the seeds and is also called a 'fruit', though it is not developed from the ovary: the strawberry is an example. As far as cooking is concerned, some things which are strictly fruits may be called 'vegetables' because they are used in savoury rather than sweet cooking. The tomato, though technically a fruit, is often used as a vegetable, and a bean pod is also technically a fruit. The term 'vegetable' is more generally used of other edible parts of plants, such as cabbage leaves, celery stalks, and potato tubers, which are not strictly the fruit of the plant from which they come. Occasionally the term 'fruit' may be used to refer to a part of a plant which is not a fruit, but which is used in sweet cooking: rhubarb, for example. So a tomato is the fruit of the tomato plant, but can be used as a vegetable in cooking.

Answer 3

"The confusion about 'fruit' and 'vegetable' arises because of the differences in usage between scientists and cooks. Scientifically speaking, a tomato is definitely a fruit. True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant (though cultivated forms may be seedless). Blueberries, raspberries, and oranges are true fruits, and so are many kinds of nut. Some plants have a soft part which supports the seeds and is also called a 'fruit', though it is not developed from the ovary: the strawberry is an example. As far as cooking is concerned, some things which are strictly fruits may be called 'vegetables' because they are used in savoury rather than sweet cooking. The tomato, though technically a fruit, is often used as a vegetable, and a bean pod is also technically a fruit. The term 'vegetable' is more generally used of other edible parts of plants, such as cabbage leaves, celery stalks, and potato tubers, which are not strictly the fruit of the plant from which they come. Occasionally the term 'fruit' may be used to refer to a part of a plant which is not a fruit, but which is used in sweet cooking: rhubarb, for example. So a tomato is the fruit of the tomato plant, but can be used as a vegetable in cooking."

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutother/tomato

Answer 4

Because the Supreme Court decided! Botanically the Tomato is a fruit. In 1893 Jon Nix et al were fruit importers (or so they thought). They sued New York customs collector Edward Hedden to recover duties "paid under protest" on the import of tomatoes from the West Indies. At the time, vegetables required a 10 percent tariff. Fruits were imported duty-free. In other words Nix said tomatoes were fruit (no duty) and Hedden said they're vegetables!
So, they went to court, the Supreme Court. After arguments were presented Justice Gray ruled that because tomatoes where known as and used as vegetables, that's what they were...vegetables! Nix got Nixed!

Answer 5

First off, "tomatoe" is actually spelled Tomato. A Tomato is a fruit because of the type of flesh, and also because of the seeds. Good luck. If you need a more in depth answer, try doing a search on google, maybe "why is a tomato a fruit"

Answer 6

if it has seeds inside it is a fruit, this is what the botanical definition is and always has been for fruits/vegetables

notably in the 1800s the u.s. supreme court made the tomato for legal purposes a vegetable and taxed it as such

but its still a fruit by all scientific definitions

so are cucumbers, squash, and quite a few others things you would normally think of as vegetables

Answer 7

A plant's fruit is the part where the seeds are...and that fits the tomato. If we eat another part of a plant, that is a vegetable. I copied the following that not only explains this, but also goes on to make a new category called fruit-vegetables:


Is a tomato a fruit? According to the dictionary it is!
to·mato: soft juicy red or yellow fruit eaten raw or cooked as a vegetable.

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What exactly is a fruit?
fruit: fleshy, seed-bearing part of a plant used as food; quantity of these.

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Why isn't the tomato a vegetable?
ve·get·able: part of various types of plants eaten as food.

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The fruit-vegetables are as healthy as fruit. Some cookbooks make a distinction between fruit, fruit vegetables and vegetables. If you look at it that way; a tomato is a fruit-vegetable. Same as the fruits below: egg-fruit, green pepper, hot pepper, avocado, red pepper, cucumber, tomato and zuchini. These fruits contain the same nutritious elements as the common fruits and contribute as much to your diet as the fruits we call fruit vegetables.
There might be more fruit to discover than you thought!



We like to consider the fruit-vegetables as fruit because we like fruit, and because the fruit-vegetables are made up out of water for the largest part, just like fruit and that's what we want to put into those glass of water bodies we have.
Remember, 80% of our body consists of water.

See Why Fruit for more information on this subject.

When we talk about fruit on this web site we include the fruit-vegetables

Answer 8

It is a fruit not a vegetable because it has seeds. It is a fruit not a berry because the seeds are on the inside....it is not, nor has it ever been a vegetable, and finally, it does NOT have an 'e' on the end of it.

Answer 9

Tomatoes are considered a fruit because they grow above ground. Also they are quite sweet compared to something like the potatoe or carrot. The seeds are placed in fruit-like positions aswell.

Answer 10

I think what makes it a fruit is the fact that it grows on a plant so this plant 'bears the fruit'. Vegetables on the other hand do not bear fruit, we eat the vegetable itself. So we eat the tomato as the fruit of a plant but we do not eat the plant itself.

Answer 11

Actually, in the U.S. I'm pretty sure it has always been classified as a fruit. Within genus and species (or whatever all that BS is) it is technically a berry.

I'm with you. I always thought it was a vegetable, and I'll always think of it that way, but according to science, it's a fruit.