Fruits and Vegetables – Who’s who?

“All fruits are vegetables, but not all vegetables are fruit.” You’ve probably heard this saying before, but yet we’re still always questioning what is what? The confusion often comes from the answers of two different sources: scientists and chefs.

By scientific definition, a fruit is the part of the plant that develops from a flower and contains seeds. By that definition, foods such as avocados, beans, peapods, corn kernels, cucumbers, olives, squash, and tomatoes would be considered fruits. Vegetables, by scientific definition, are all the other parts of the plants. These would include the stems, leaves, and roots of the plant. Vegetables could be celery, spinach leaves, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, etc.

I’m assuming there were some plants on the fruit list that made you stop and think, “wait, what?” That’s because most of us look at fruits and vegetables from a culinary standpoint. We often think of vegetables as less sweet and usually served with the main dish. Whereas, fruits are usually considered sweeter/more tart and are looked at as a dessert or snack food.

While there are lots of different arguments over this topic, the real question should be, “does it really matter?” We as a general population are having a hard time meeting the Dietary Guidelines for Americans on fruits (2 cups/day) and vegetables (2 ½ -3 cups/day). In general, one cup of raw or cooked fruit/vegetable or fruit/vegetable juice or ½ cup of dried fruit/vegetable would count as one cup. Statistically, the actual number of servings of fruits and vegetables per consumer has been in a decline (about 7%) over the past 6 years. We all know that fruits and vegetables are good for our overall health, so who cares which classification it falls under, just eat more plants! SY