Is a tomato a fruit or vegetable?

Answer 1

Fruit and Seed are strictly BOTANICAL Terms, or Technical terms.

It is not so with the term 'VEGETABLE' .


Vegetable is a culinary term and not botanical one( this is the root cause of the problem).

Any part of a plant can be a vegetable but all vegetables do not qualify for the term fruit.

Now let us look at the question.

In Radish, root and leaves are strictly vegetables only

So also the celery, carrot and beet.

As all the examples mentioned above flower / fruit do not play any role.

Tomato is basically a FRUIT.
To call it as such or call it a vegetable depends upon how you use it or look at it.
But it develops from a flower, its ovary and has seeds inside.

This applies to cucumber , squash , corn and green peas are fundamentally fruits. See photos in the links below--

1) http://www.nursesworldmag.com/carousel/images/cucumber.jpg
In the above there are slices of cucumber with plenty of seeds INSIDE.

http://home1.gte.net/web23vhn/Veggie-before-Camping-closeup-squash-fruit01DSCN3825.JPG
It shows developing squash fruits on the plant.

3) http://www.giardinaggio.it/orto/singoleorticole/pisello/pisello.jpg
It shows open pea pod with seeds in side.

4) http://soilcrop.tamu.edu/photogallery/cornsorghum+/images/corn%20ears.jpg
In this each corn grain is a fruit and seed rolled in one!

5) http://courses.washington.edu/bot113/family_pages/Solanaceae/slide028.jpg
In this tomato is cut to show seeds inside.

FRUITS BEAR SEEDS / SEED IN SIDE THEM AND NEVER OUT SIDE. VEGETABLES DO NOT HAVE SEEDS.

In cashew nut what appears fleshy / juicy part is not the fruit but the swollen part of the stalk of the flower or thalamus. The part which is the fruit proper has typical cashew like appearance

See the links below---

http://www.fao.org/inpho/content/documents/vlibrary/ac306e/img/ac306e04b.gif
http://www.codina.net/images/ccaj3_codina.jpg

Answer 2

Botanically speaking, a tomato, along with eggplants and gooseberries, are fruits, and are true "berries."

Legally speaking, after a very nasty lawsuit in the US concerning a situation where fruits were charged one rate and vegetables another, tomatoes (and eggplants) are vegetables.

Culinarily speaking, it depends on the situation, but, most cultures treat tomatoes like vegetables. However, I've seen "tomato ice cream," and in some parts of China, they serve tomatoes sliced and with sugar as an after-dinner fruit dessert (my mother has served it to me like that, at least).

Answer 3

Without a doubt it is a fruit. Check this out in any biology or botany text, or go on line and enter "fruit types". I am sure you will find it. The term "vegetable" is an overbroad one that really means very little by itself. Usually just a plant part that you can eat.

Answer 4

Although technically a berry fruit, it is "legally" a vegetable!! The Supreme Court of this United States of America made the ruling. If you don't believe me (nobody does) Google it!

Answer 5

A fruit since it produce seeds when the ovules are fertilized. The fleshy meat surrounding the seeds is actually an ovary wall that has turned fleshy as a result of fertilization. More specifically, it is a simple fruit.

Answer 6

Technically, it's a fruit. But it is often thought of as a vegetable.

Answer 7

A fruit. Any produce which contains seeds,is technically a fruit.

Answer 8

it is a fruit that most of us treat like a vegetable

Answer 9

tomato is a fruit

Answer 10

Its a FRUIT, and to be more specific a BERRY.

Reason- Its is the ovary of a flowering plant along with the seeds