Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable, and why?

Question

Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable, and why?

Answer 1

This is going to sound funny, but I swear it is true.  Tomatoes are fruits, no doubt about it, but farmers worried because they didn't sell well as fruit.  They eventually got permission from the US SUPREME COURT!! to sell them as vegetables.  The website www.tomato-cages.com claims that the court reclassification had to do with taxation.

Answer 2

tomato = fruit= stem          It grows on a stem

Answer 3

The tomato is oficially a fruit.

Answer 4

Anything that has seeds on the inside is a fruit. This includes tomatoes.

Answer 5

I think that it is proven that a tomato is a fruit because it has seeds or probly because of how many seeds it has but some vegetables have seeds too so I am not so sure but I think it's a fruit.Hope I helped.

Answer 6

it is a fruit because it has seeds

Answer 7

The confusion about 'fruit' and 'vegetable' arises because of the differences in usage between scientists and cooks. Scientifically speaking, a tomato is definitely a fruit. True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant (though cultivated forms may be seedless). Blueberries, raspberries, and oranges are true fruits, and so are many kinds of nut. Some plants have a soft part which supports the seeds and is also called a 'fruit', though it is not developed from the ovary: the strawberry is an example. As far as cooking is concerned, some things which are strictly fruits may be called 'vegetables' because they are used in savoury rather than sweet cooking. The tomato, though technically a fruit, is often used as a vegetable, and a bean pod is also technically a fruit. The term 'vegetable' is more generally used of other edible parts of plants, such as cabbage leaves, celery stalks, and potato tubers, which are not strictly the fruit of the plant from which they come. Occasionally the term 'fruit' may be used to refer to a part of a plant which is not a fruit, but which is used in sweet cooking: rhubarb, for example. So a tomato is the fruit of the tomato plant, but can be used as a vegetable in cooking.

MORE EXPLANATION: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 8

"Vegetable" isn't a scientific term.

Whether an edible plant is called a fruit or vegetable depends on its taste and how it's used in cooking. Since tomatoes are more savory than sweet and are served as part of a main course, not dessert, they're considered vegetables.

The meaning of the word "fruit" depends on whether it's used in a botanical or culinary sense.

Botanically, tomatoes are fruits. For cooking, they're vegetables.

Answer 9

Fruit, because it has seeds. Vegetables don't have seeds and fruit does. Simple.