this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2024
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[–] [email protected] 75 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Biologically, tomatoes are fruit. Culinarily, tomatoes are vegetables.

[–] Viking_Hippie 38 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Vocally, they're baritones.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Ideally they are makeshift weed pipes

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I dunno, even in a culinary sense, tomatoes are way too acidic to lump in with vegetables imo. The textures are totally different from veggies too

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Which veggies? Eggplant, zucchini, and potatoes all have very different textures.

The difference is in flavor. Veggies are savory and fruits are sweet.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

First, eggplants and zucchini are fruits too, and both are sweet, just not banana-sweet (in fact, try zucchini bread if you haven't - best shit ever). Second, many veggies are sweet, like carrots, onions (though it's masked until cooked), and ...uh... sweet potatoes. Third, good tomatoes are absolutely sweet, not like candy but especially the little salad tomatoes aren't very far removed from a grape, which I think we agree are a fruit. Then there's olives, that bizarrely savory, dark fruit. They're delicious but I'm pretty sure they're from another planet.

So overall I think, if we're going to go by flavor, then imo acidity is the least ambiguous differentiator. Still not perfect, I'd rather just call it a fruit if it has seeds and isn't a pod. I'll give it to you on texture though

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I don't think vegetable sounds right either. No one crushes up broccoli or carrots to make sauce for pizza and you don't add tomatoes to your roast veggies.

[–] poopsmith 24 points 10 months ago (2 children)

People put carrots in pizza sauce, like Rao's: https://www.raos.com/products/pizza-sauce

And roasted tomatoes are great with some peppers and onions.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] poopsmith 5 points 10 months ago

Yup, but also a vegetable.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Yeah, thanks nature for not adequately distinguishing between fruits and vegetables by cooking techniques!

Sometimes, you can be such a cunt, nature.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I love playing around with recipes so have indeed made broc and carrot sauces, but this is kind of all about what feels right to say. And I think that there's a lot of cases where it feels wrong to describe tomato as a vegetable. Kind of how I'd feel odd calling lettuce a vegetable.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Okay but if someone offered me a pizza with broccoli or carrot sauce I'd have to politely, but firmly refuse

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Your definition of vegetable is "cannot be used as base for pizza sauce"? Oddly specific.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

The whole basis for calling it a vegetable is "I don't want to call it a fruit" so let's not get too pedantic here.

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Tomatos are a made up by Italians to sell more "tomato" sauce.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago

I see the image must have been cropped off to the right

[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Ones a culinary term, the other is a biology term.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

The problem with the culinary term "vegetable" is that, properly, it applies to any edible part of a plant, and improperly, it's basically a useless distinction.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 10 months ago (3 children)

If I ever see one of you fuckers put a tomato in a fruit salad I will shit your pants

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

It's called salsa.

[–] Randelung 3 points 10 months ago

prosecutors will be violated.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Are you going to go shit in their pants?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

do you know how this meme or bell curves work? should be the dummy saying vegetable, the majority saying fruit, and the genius (on the right...) saying it's a vegetable

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Guess we just know different people then

[–] Ixoid 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Why would the genius say something wrong like that? Tomatoes are fruit - grows on the vine, contains seeds inside it, fruits regularly without destroying the parent plant.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

shut up nerd!

[–] HollowNaught 1 points 9 months ago

The genius would be saying that because the genius understands that when this question is asked, it only makes sense from a culinary viewpoint, not a biological one

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Tomatoes are berries, even

[–] dfc09 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I've always heard it's intelligence that tells us tomatoes are fruit, but wisdom tells to use it like a vegetable in cooking

[–] woobie 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I always heard it as intelligence tells us tomatoes are fruit, wisdom tells us not to use it in a fruit salad.

[–] fkn 4 points 10 months ago

Salsa is a fruit salad.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

The effective vibe is much more important than any underlying biology.

Tomatoes are vegetables.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

The left one should say "fruits", while the right one should say "fruit"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Errbuddy wanna talk about tomatoes but the real question is, are bananas fruit? Some varietals are sweet and clearly belong in desserts and fruit salads, some are savory and starchy like potatoes, depending on the culinary tradition you come from they're used in both contexts, and they can and should have seeds but they don't due to selective breeding. Tomatoes exist in an ambiguous state, but bananas are somehow both at all times.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Bananas are technically berries, which makes them a fruit. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone think of a banana as a non-fruit before

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Plantains are bananas (same species, different varietals) and in many cultures are used in savory contexts

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Oh yeah, I forgot about those. Funnily enough, here in Spain bananas are plátanos and plantains are bananas

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

ahem different models for different circumstances.

[–] AgentGrimstone 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Technically a fruit, taste like a vegetable.

[–] bul 6 points 10 months ago

I argue anyone who doesn't think tomatoes taste like fruit hasn't had a real tomato yet

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

All fruits are vegetables, so everyone is right.

[–] HollowNaught 1 points 9 months ago

People who argue that something is a fruit don't understand what a vegetable is

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"Vegetables" makes no sense.

Tomatoes, grapes, apples, cucumber, pumpkin, eggplant, mushrooms, all fruits.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I was with you until mushrooms, those ain't even plants

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

We are talking about "fruits" here which isnt even a term used to describe plants. Maybe in english, not in german.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

mushrooms are not fruits in any sense. Fruiting body is applied colloquially however since spores are not fruits this is also incorrect.

However much like with calling a tomato a fruit, it's perfectly clear to call the penis loo lookin' thing a fruiting body and only derranged pedants are bothered by it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Fruits are a specific part of the plant, the seed-bearing part (pods and ferns are the exceptions, I guess). Veggies are the rest of the plant. Mushrooms are fungi's and all, don't get me wrong, but they're not plants