Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Why?

Question

I've actually got some pretty conclusive evidence I'll show once I get other's opinions.

no one has got it quite yet.....

Kevin L is close, but missing another sense.

Well in 1883, The US Supreme Court ruled that a tomato is a vegetable. Search Nix v. Hedden (I believe that's the last name)

Answer 1

I can't believe this question is being posted again. At least once a week, if not more often, someone decides to run this one up the flag pole again. Maybe they keep hoping for a completely new answer to be offered.

Answer 2

Botanists will tell you that it is a fruit. Related to the strawberry, I believe. The Supreme Court holds that this is not the end of the story...

(Quote)
U.S. Supreme Court
NIX v. HEDDEN, 149 U.S. 304 (1893)

149 U.S. 304

NIX et al.
v.
HEDDEN, Collector.
No. 137.

May 10, 1893

Botanically speaking, tomatoes are the fruit of a vine, just as are cucumbers, squashes, beans, and peas. But in the common language of the people, whether sellers or consumers of provisions, all these are vegetables which are grown in kitchen gardens, and which, whether eaten cooked or raw, are, like potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets, cauliflower, cabbage, celery, and lettuce, usually served at dinner in, with, or after the soup, fish, or meats which constitute the principal part of the repast, and not, like fruits generally, as dessert.

The attempt to class tomatoes as fruit is not unlike a recent attempt to class beans as seeds, of which Mr. Justice Bradley, speaking for this court, said: 'We do not see why they should be classified as seeds, any more than walnuts should be so classified. Both are seeds, in the language of botany or natural history, but not in commerce nor in common parlance. On the other hand in speaking generally of provisions, beans may well be included under the term 'vegetables.' As an article of food on our tables, whether baked or boiled, or forming the basis of soup, they are used as a vegetable, as well when ripe as when green. This is the principal use to which they are put. Beyond the common knowledge which we have on this subject, very little evidence is necessary, or can be produced.' Robertson v. Salomon, 130 U.S. 412, 414 , 9 S. Sup. Ct. Rep. 559.

Best wishes!

Answer 3

The answer depends on your relationship with the two items. If you’re stocking the produce department at a grocery store, a tomato is a vegetable. If you’re a plant scientist—a botanist—a tomato is a fruit. Cucumbers, pumpkins, avocados, and peppers are all fruits. Culturally, however, the grocer is going to call them vegetables.
A fruit is the ripe ovary or ovaries of a flower—the mature ovary of a seed-bearing plant. Let’s say you’ve got a tomato plant with those little yellow flowers all ready. A bee comes along and fertilizes the flower. The flower starts developing into a fruit with the seed inside. (There are four kinds of fruits, which explains fruits such as pineapple and blueberries, but let's not get into that.) And, hey, guess what? Nuts are fruits. True nuts that is, chestnut and filberts come to mind.
Vegetables, however, are the roots (eg, carrot), tubers (eg, potato), leaves (eg spinach), stems (eg, celery), and other bits of plants that you might eat. For a botanist, a vegetable is sort of like the umbrella word for all the edible parts of a plant.

Answer 4

Tomatos are said to be a fruit scientifically because it has seeds and all fruits have seeds, but, however, most people refer a tomato as a vegetable because how it is used in recipes. And the Supreme Court says it's a vegetable. So it's scientifically a fruit, and legally a veggie. Decide for yourself. Fruit or vegetable?

This also might be helpful:
http://home.howstuffworks.com/question143.htm

Answer 5

A tomato is a fruit, because it has seeds on the inside.

Answer 6

I think a tomato is a berry and isn't a berry a fruit? I would say that it is a fruit. But is a peanut really a nut?

Answer 7

a fruit because the seeds grow on the inside of it

Answer 8

Tomato is a fruit. I never really knew why....so after you posed the question , I looked it up.

http://www.sciencebob.com/lab/q-tomato.html

Answer 9

Tomatoes are a fruit! Why? All fruit is pulpy, vegetables are more denser.

Answer 10

It's the fruit of a vegetable plant, isn't it? So it depends on if you're being technical.