What's the difference between fruit and vegetables?

Sometimes the difference between fruit and vegetables is clear. A carrot is a vegetable, and a peach is a fruit. There is a large area of overlap in the diagram relating these two categories. The European Food Information Council (EUFIC) says that fruit and vegetable are defined differently depending on whether you're a gardener or a chef.

The tomato is in the dead center of the region. This can be either a fruit or vegetable.

What is the difference between fruit and vegetables? Fruits are seed-bearing structures that develop from the ovary of a flowering plant.

Vegetables are all plant parts, such as roots, leaves and stems. Fruits such as apples, squash, and tomatoes are all fruits, while roots such as potatoes, leaves, and stems are all vegetables.

The outlook is different in terms of cuisine. A lot of fruits that areBotanically speaking, but which are used in dishes that are not sweet, are considered vegetables by chefs. According to EUFIC, this includes such fruits as bell peppers and tomatoes.

According to a survey published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, language and culture can affect someone's perception of a fruit or vegetable. 20% of respondents said that rice was a vegetable. Spanish speakers were more likely to call rice a vegetable than Chinese speakers. Some people think beans are in the vegetable category. English speakers were more likely to call them vegetables.

Sometimes a debate over the difference between fruit and vegetables can get so heated that the law has to step in. The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1893 that an imported tomato should be taxed as a vegetable. The court acknowledged that a tomato is a botanical fruit, but went with what they called the "ordinary" definitions of fruit and vegetable.

Additional resources

The New York Botanical Garden has an article about fruits and what they mean. Harvard's School of Public Health has a page about the benefits of fruit and vegetables.

Bibliography

The role of the dictionary in legal thought. The law review by Mercer. There is a link to the issue on the website.

Fruits and vegetables have postharvest physiology. M., & A. Carrillo-Lopez.

The meaning of fruit and vegetables. Public Health Nutrition was published in 2011.