Are tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable?
Really, the answer comes down to who you ask.
A chef would say that fruits are sweet and fleshy, eaten as a snack or dessert, while
vegetables are savory and lower in fructose, eaten as sides or part of a main dish.
But a scientist, on the other hand, would say all these things are just "plants".
And the seed-bearing structure formed from a plant's ovary after flowering is called
"fruit".
So in scientific terms, that means familiar things like apples, oranges, and pears are
fruit, because they have seeds.
But it also means that things we usually say are vegetables, like pumpkins and avocados,
are actually fruit too, because of their seeds.
So what about tomatoes?
We know what science would say: because tomatoes have seeds, they're fruit.
Just like avocados and pumpkins (weird, right?).
But really what we call "fruit" or "vegetable" reflects cultural and culinary traditions,
not science.
These cultural and culinary traditions tell us to think about how these plants taste,
and how we use them when we cook, meaning the savory tomato is probably considered a
vegetable by most non-scientists, just like these other botanical fruits we usually call
vegetables.
So, are tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable?
They're both.
Either term is appropriate, it just depends on the situation.
And even if you tell a chef that they are fruit, they're still not going to taste great
in a fruit salad.