Is a tomato a vegetable or fruit?

Question

I got in a big argument today about this can u please clear things up.

Answer 1

I have taught plant science to elementary school classes at a botanical garden. I get this question all the time!
The answer depends on who you are: a scientist? a greengrocer? I'll give you the botanist's answer:
A fruit is the ripened (swollen) ovary of a flower. The ovary ripens when the ovules inside have been fertilized. Seeds of flowering plants always are found inside fruits.

Botanists generally don't use the word vegetable to mean a plant or even a plant part. The basic parts are roots, stems, leaves flowers/fruit/seeds. Vegetable is a grocery store term: Tomatoes are called vegetables to distinguish them from the sweeter fruits like peaches. Carrots are called vegetables but the part we eat is of course a root.

Answer 2

Every vegetable grows as the fruit of that particular plant, this is also true of the tomato,it is the fruit of the tomato vine but is eaten or cooked as a vegetable.

Answer 3

Legally speaking, they are vegetables. The US supreme court ruled on this in 1893 for tax reasons.

Botanically speaking, they are fruit (a berry to be exact)... as the definition of a fruit is a "seed vessel."

Answer 4

It's a fruit,but the grocery store labels it a vegetable.

Answer 5

tomato is a fruit, but in America, and maybe most other countries, it is eaten as a vegetable.

Answer 6

It is a highly consumed fruit, used as a salad, cooked as a vegetable, made in to sauce, chutney and drunk as a juice. (Except it is not formented like some other fruits but is used in a cocktail - Bloody Mary)

Answer 7

It is considered a fruit.

Answer 8

It's a fruit.

Answer 9

fruit

Answer 10

It is a fruit. flesh surrounding seeds, and preceeded by flowers - this is fruit.