Is A Tomatoe A Fruit or Vegetable???

Question

My teacher said it was a veggie but I THINK IT IS A FRUIT!!!!! IT IS NOT A VEGGIE, unless it's in your opinion of course....lol

Answer 1

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

This argument has had legal implications in the United States. 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 the controversy in 1893 by declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, based on the popular definition that classifies vegetables by use, that they are generally served with dinner and not dessert (Nix v. Hedden (149 U.S. 304)). The holding of the case applies only to the interpretation of the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883, and the court did not purport to reclassify the tomato for botanical or other purposes other than paying a tax under a tariff act.

The tomato has been designated the state vegetable of New Jersey. Arkansas took 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. In 2006, the Ohio House of Representatives passed a law that would have declared the tomato to be the official state fruit, but the bill died when the Ohio Senate failed to act on it. Tomato juice has been the official beverage of Ohio since 1965. A.W. Livingston, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio played a large part in popularizing the tomato in the late 1800s.

Answer 2

Fruit

Answer 3

Fruit

Answer 4

This has been answered before. In specific scientific terms, it is a fruit, but as far as FOOD is concerned it is a vegetable, just like other scientific "fruits" which are used like vegetables. Search the YA archives. Or research the Internet.

Answer 5

It's a fruit botanically. It's a vegetable for import tariff purposes.

It's spelled TOMATO. Unless you're Dan Quayle.

Answer 6

I grew up knowing that a tomato is indeed a fruit, because it contains seeds.
I heard, not confirmed as fact, that the tomato is the state vegetable in New Jersey.
I do know that I will never serve tomato pie to guests, unless it's a pizza pie!

Answer 7

It's a veggie!! you wouldnt eat a tomato in a fruit salad!!

Answer 8

Technically, a tomato is a berry. That makes it a fruit by most people's definition.

Answer 9

its a fruit. tomatoes have seeds in them and veges dont have seeds. but as a food we say its a vegetable. technically its a fruit though.

Answer 10

We use it like a vegetable, but botanically it's a fruit because it's a plant ovary containing seeds.