• seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    Yeah, it’s like the whole “tomatoes are actually a fruit” thing. So are zucchinis and eggplants, but nobody ever brings that up. It’s always tomatoes.

    There’s a botanical definition and a culinary definition. So, that doesn’t mean that somebody who calls a tomato a vegetable is wrong. And don’t put any tomatoes in my fruit salad!

    • HiddenLayer5@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Vegetable is also exclusively a culinary definition. Vegetables are essentially any edible plant structure that are not sweet and aren’t the seeds directly (which are grains or nuts). Typically vegetables are flowers, leaves, stems, or roots, but some non-sweet fruits like cucumbers, peppers, and green beans are also squarely in the vegetable category despite definitely being fruits, no reason they can’t be both.

      • lugal@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        And the concept of a vegetable varies culturally. I live in Germany and I consider mais vegetables (it feels weird to call it corn in this context since other grains aren’t). In Romania (and elsewhere I guess) potatoes are a vegetable which they aren’t for me.

          • lugal@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Absolutely! Potatoes, grains (except mais) and legumes (except green beans) are carbs (or staples). Polenta is too, despite being made of mais.

            I thought that’s the default?

            • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              I don’t know who downvoted that but it wasn’t me. I get where you’re coming from, but I think more in terms of the part of the plant I suppose.

      • Soggy@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Carrots, corn, and peas all poke holes in that definition. It’s a culinary definition but also an arbitrary and subjective one, trying to define rules just makes it more ridiculous.

    • lugal@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’s intelligent to know that tomatoes are fruits and it’s wise not to put then into a fruit salad