Vegetable Matter

VEGETABLE MATTE

Vegetable is a culinary term. Its definition has no scientific value and is somewhat arbitrary and subjective. All parts of herbaceous plants eaten as food by humans, whole or in part, are generally considered vegetables. Mushrooms, though belonging to the biological kingdom fungi, are also commonly considered vegetables. Though the exceptions are many, in general, vegetables are thought of as being savory, and not sweet. Culinary fruits, nuts, grains, herbs, and spices are all arguably the exceptions.

Since “vegetable” is not a botanical term, there is no contradiction in referring to a plant part as a fruit while also being considered a vegetable (see diagram at right). Given this general rule of thumb, vegetables can include leaves (lettuce), stems (asparagus), roots (carrots), flowers (broccoli), bulbs (garlic), seeds (peas and beans) and of course the botanical fruits like cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and capsicums.

The merits of this ongoing question, "is it a fruit, or is it a vegetable," have even found its way before the bench of the United States Supreme Court which ruled unanimously in Nix v. Hedden, 1883, that a tomato is a vegetable for the purposes of 1883 Tariff Act even though botanically, a tomato is a fruit.

Commercial production of vegetables is a branch of horticulture called olericulture.

Etymology

The vegetable is also used as a literary term for any plant: vegetable matter, vegetable kingdom.[1] It comes from Latin vegetabilis (animated) and from vegetare (enliven), which is derived from vegetus (active), in reference to the process of a plant growing. This in turn derives from the Proto-Indo-European base *weg- or *wog-, which is also the source of the English wake, meaning "not sleep". The word vegetable was first recorded in print in English in the 14th century. The meaning of "plant grown for food" was not established until the 18th century. [2]

Vegetables in the diet

[pic]

A plate of vegetables...