Why are tomatoes a fruit?
Botanically, they are a fruit because they fit within the botanical definition for fruit: “a flowering ovary of a plant that contains seeds”. A lot of botanical fruits aren’t even edible. However, you must also realize that there is no botanical definition for the term “vegetable”. A botanist could not categorize a tomato as a vegetable, even if they wanted to; the term is not part of their nomenclature. Broccoli, carrots, celery, cauliflower, etc. are not categorized as vegetables. The term “herbaceous plants” is usually used for these types of plants. The term “vegetable”, on the other hand, is used by chefs. For a chef, a “fruit” is a sweet, edible portion of a plant, and a “vegetable” is a savory plant. Rhubarb and pumpkin are considered both fruits and vegetables in the kitchen because they are used in both sweet and savory dishes. A chef considers a tomato to be a vegetable because it is not usually used in sweet dishes.
