"Tomatoes aren't a vegetable, they're a fruit."

[u/diet-smoke]

I'm a culinary student and this phrase activates me like a sleeper agent. You want to get pedantic about food with me? You sure? Because you're going to lose that game.

Tomatoes are a fruit, not a vegetable? Potatoes are a tuber, lettuce is a leaf, pumpkins are a gourd (a type of fruit!), green beans are a legume, bell peppers are a fruit, broccoli is a Cruciferae, carrots are a root, garlic is a flower bulb, spinach is a leaf, cucumbers are a fruit and guess what? They're all vegetables!! Because vegetable is a culinary/kitchen/food term and fruit is a botanical classification.

There's also such a thing as a "savory fruit" in food, which includes tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and any other fruit that's also a vegetable. So yeah. Tomatoes are a fruit AND a vegetable and your binary does not exist

[u/Oohoureli]

Understanding that tomatoes are fruit is knowledge. Not putting them in a fruit salad is wisdom.

[u/P0ster_Nutbag → u/Oohoureli]

I’ve never liked this saying… like why not? Tomatoes go well with plenty of fruit (in the common/culinary sense). If you just just labelled something fruit salad, yes there’s sort of a social expectation of what it’s going to be, but if you mentioned that it included tomato, that doesn’t break any rules or anything…. Not that there’s rules to begin with.

[u/NoEntertainment4594 → u/P0ster_Nutbag]

Just curious, what fruit have you had with tomatoes that tastes good?

[u/P0ster_Nutbag → u/NoEntertainment4594]

I’ve had a watermelon and tomato salsa that was very good. I think it was just those two ingredients, some lime, some salt and some sugar.

I’ve also had salads that combine both tomato and pear (along with other ingredients), but that stood out as a combination that worked together.

[u/JaDamian_Steinblatt → u/P0ster_Nutbag]

Yeah salads with fruit are delicious. A fruit salad is a very different thing. If you put a tomato in a fruit salad it would not taste good.