Journal #11: Difference Between Fruits and Vegetables

Journal #1: Fruits and Vegetables

Summary:

My mother was making shopping list when I suggested some food items to put on the list. Our household consumes a large amount of vegetables and fruits, very often in the form of salada, so when my mother was reading off the names of vegetables, and fruits, that were on the list, I very smugly informed her of the difference between vegetables and angiosperms (although she remained quite skeptical).

 

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Personal Response:

This was very amusing to me, as before learning about angiosperms and the definition of a fruit (which is the ripened ovaries of flowering plants that contains the seed), I have assumed the fruits I often eat—avocados, tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers are vegetables, an idea that I have no idea where I, and so many other people, got from. What is more surprising is the fact that some nuts (walnuts, for instance) are also considered to be “dry, one-seeded, usually oily fruits”, when all my life I have just considered a nut to be, well, a nut. The fact that so few people understand the real definition of a fruit is baffling, a tendency I think is due to most fruits being sweet (apples, oranges, watermelon, etc etc). Furthermore, I find it surprising that the term vegetable does not bear any scientific value, and is only really considered to be a culinary term. In the future, I would like to learn more about what I have thought were vegetables (spinach, cabbage..), and what are the considered scientifically. Also, what are potatoes?