Why are mushrooms considered a vegetable? ?

Question

I know that mushrooms are not even in the same kingdom as vegetables. But I have read that in industry, mushrooms are considered vegetables. Why is this?

Answer 1

As produce, they have to be either vegetable or fruit.

Do you think of them as fruit?

Answer 2

becouse of the way that it grows, its not a fruit so its a vegetable.

Answer 3

no there fungi

Answer 4

I can't tell you but I wish they wouldn't!  Is it anal of me to cringe whenever I hear this sort of thing or can I be forgiven because I'm a biologist?  I don't really mind to be honest but it's fun to be pedantic about certain things! lol

PS:  You know the way people call tomatos a vegetable?  Well they're such a good example of a fruit that they're generally used in textbooks to illustrate the typical fruit!  Also, cucumbers and peppers are fruits but most people see them as vegetables too.  In these cases I think maybe it's a taste thing but for mushrooms I don't know.

Answer 5

I've always wondered the same thing. I mean, they don't have seeds or roots, they come from spores. Weird.

Answer 6

Generally speaking, a herbaceous plant or plant part which is regularly eaten as unsweetened or salted food by humans is considered to be a vegetable. Mushrooms, though belonging to the biological kingdom Fungi, are also generally considered to be vegetables, at least in the retail industry.