Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

Answer 1

it's a vegetable, like lettuce and carrotts

Answer 2

Knowledge is being aware that a tomato is a fruit.

Wisdom is knowing not to put it in your fruit salad.

-------------------------
Science Bob says:
To really figure out if a tomato is a fruit or vegetable, you need to know what makes a fruit a fruit, and a vegetable a vegetable. The big question to ask is, DOES IT HAVE SEEDS?

If the answer is yes, then technically, you have a FRUIT. This, of course, makes your tomato a fruit. It also makes cucumbers, squash, green beans and walnuts all fruits as well. VEGETABLES such as, radishes, celery, carrots, and lettuce do NOT have seeds (that are part of what we eat) and so they are grouped as vegetables.

Now don't go looking for tomatoes next to the oranges in your grocery stores. Certain fruits like tomatoes and green beans will probably always be mostly referred to as "vegetables" in today's society.
----------------------

Answer 3

It's both. Botanically it is a fruit, but so are green beans, snow
peas, chili peppers, eggplant, and various other edibles.
As a food a tomato, along with the other fruits listed above,
is a vegetable. The difference with respect to culinary matters is largely whether the food is sweet or not. That's not
the only difference, but it's about the most important one. In
botany a fruit is the ripened ovary of a flowering plant, along
with any closely associated parts that coalesce with it. It is
thus the part of the plant that contains the seeds.

Answer 4

It's not one or the other.
Either word is appropriate depending on context.
According to the scientific definition of fruit, the tomato is a fruit, but different definitions are used in different contexts.
I get annoyed at how many people see this as a black and white thing, with a single correct answer!

Answer 5

The scientists call it a fruit.

I am told that it was so popular with the Americans during the early 1900s (for pizza, pasta, etc.) that the US government classified it as a "vegetable" to avoid some import taxes on "fruits".

Answer 6

It's a fruit because it has seeds. Any ripened ovary of a flower is a fruit. That means a cucumber is also a fruit. They are not vegetables.

Answer 7

Botanically, it's a fruit -- a matured, ripened ovary. Legally, in the US, it's a vegetable, per the US Supreme Court decision in 1893, Nix vs. Hedden.
http://www.cookinglouisiana.com/Articles/Tomatoes-Veg-or-Fruit.htm

Politicians and lawyers have been trying to meddle with science for a very long time...

Answer 8

Technically, fruit, however when shopping or gardening, they are ususally referred to as vegetables.

Answer 9

Fruit. It fits the definition.

Answer 10

I think it is a vegetable.

I'm just answering for the 2 points. :)

Answer 11

fruit