Why do so many people think that the tomato is a vegetable?

Answer 1

because it is used as a vegetable, not as a fruit. if people kept tomatoes in a fruit bowl, and had tomatoes and cream etc, veiws would change.

Answer 2

Fruit or vegetable?

Botanically speaking, a tomato is the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant, that is a fruit or, more precisely, a berry. However, from a culinary perspective, the tomato is not as sweet as those foodstuffs usually called fruits and it is typically served as part of a main course of a meal, as are other vegetables, rather than at dessert. As noted above, the term "vegetable" has no botanical meaning and is purely a culinary term.

This argument has led to actual legal implications in the United States, Australia and China. In 1887, U.S. tariff laws that imposed a duty on vegetables but not on fruits caused the tomato's status to become a matter of legal importance. The U.S. Supreme Court settled this controversy in 1893, declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, using the popular definition which classifies vegetable by use, that they are generally served with dinner and not dessert. The case is known as Nix v. Hedden (149 U.S. 304). While the Tomato can be classified as a fruit, it is officially categorized as a definite vegetable in the United States.

The USDA also considers the tomato a vegetable.

Strictly speaking, the holding of the case applies only to the interpretation of the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883, and not much else. The court does not purport to reclassify tomato for botanical or for any other purpose other than paying a tax under a tariff act.

In concordance with this classification, the tomato has been proposed as the state fruit of New Jersey. Arkansas takes both sides by declaring the "South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato" to be both the state fruit and the state vegetable in the same law, citing both its botanical and culinary classifications.

But due to the scientific definition of a fruit and a vegetable, the tomato still remains a fruit when not dealing with tariffs. Nor is it the only culinary vegetable that is a botanical fruit: eggplants, cucumbers, and squashes of all kinds (including zucchini and pumpkins) share the same ambiguity.

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Answer 3

Fruit or vegetable?

Botanically speaking, a tomato is the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant, that is a fruit or, more precisely, a berry. However, from a culinary perspective, the tomato is not as sweet as those foodstuffs usually called fruits and it is typically served as part of a main course of a meal, as are other vegetables, rather than at dessert. As noted above, the term "vegetable" has no botanical meaning and is purely a culinary term.

This argument has led to actual legal implications in the United States, Australia and China. In 1887, U.S. tariff laws that imposed a duty on vegetables but not on fruits caused the tomato's status to become a matter of legal importance. The U.S. Supreme Court settled this controversy in 1893, declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, using the popular definition which classifies vegetable by use, that they are generally served with dinner and not dessert. The case is known as Nix v. Hedden (149 U.S. 304). While the Tomato can be classified as a fruit, it is officially categorized as a definite vegetable in the United States.

The USDA also considers the tomato a vegetable.

Strictly speaking, the holding of the case applies only to the interpretation of the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883, and not much else. The court does not purport to reclassify tomato for botanical or for any other purpose other than paying a tax under a tariff act.

In concordance with this classification, the tomato has been proposed as the state fruit of New Jersey. Arkansas takes both sides by declaring the "South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato" to be both the state fruit and the state vegetable in the same law, citing both its botanical and culinary classifications.

But due to the scientific definition of a fruit and a vegetable, the tomato still remains a fruit when not dealing with tariffs. Nor is it the only culinary vegetable that is a botanical fruit: eggplants, cucumbers, and squashes of all kinds (including zucchini and pumpkins) share the same ambiguity.

Answer 4

The tomato can be classified as both a fruit and a vegetable.Classification relates to the way it is eaten. Eaten in the hand raw it is considered a fruit. Cut up in a salad or cooked it is considered a vegetable.

Answer 5

Does it matter so much? The reason can be that tomatos are not eaten as fruits but mostly with foods as vegetable. I agree with you that people should be aware that it is a fruit.

Answer 6

Because they left school or went to sleep in class at about the age of six years old.

Some people think that the avocado is a vegetable because it is green.

Answer 7

Because people such as yourself are forever putting tomato and vegetable in the same sentence.

Answer 8

because people are used to thinking of fruit as something sweet and tomatoes are not so people think of them as vegetables because they fit into that catogory

Answer 9

Because in the cooking world, it is used as a vegetable.

Answer 10

perhaps people associate fruit with sweetness and so they see tomatoes as being anything but that, seeing as it is used in many savoury dishes. though of course i always learned it was a fruit