Is a Tomato a Fruit or Vegetable?

When I teach my kids science, this is the question that gets the whole family arguing: is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

The answer is interesting: both are right, depending on where you stand.

Botanically, a Tomato Is a Fruit

In botany, a fruit is the part that develops from a flower’s ovary and contains seeds. A tomato fits that completely, so it’s a fruit. To be exact, it’s a berry. By that standard, cucumbers, squash, peppers and beans are all fruits too.

In the Kitchen, a Tomato Is a Vegetable

In everyday life and cooking, a tomato is a vegetable. We use it in stir-fries and soup, as part of a main meal rather than a dessert. From a nutrition point of view it also counts as a vegetable, since it’s low in sugar and low in calories. Scrambled eggs with tomato, tomato soup, tomato in salad, whose family serves tomato as an after-dinner dessert?

What the Supreme Court Actually Decided

The dispute went to court in 1893 in a case called Nix v. Hedden. The law at the time put a tariff on imported vegetables but not on fruit, so an importer argued his tomatoes were fruit. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that for tariff purposes, a tomato is a vegetable.

The Court admitted tomatoes are botanically fruit. But it went by how people ordinarily use the word, and tomatoes are served with the main part of dinner, not as dessert. It also said it didn’t matter whether they’re eaten cooked or raw.

That’s different from the common split people argue about. One side says raw is fruit and stir-fried is vegetable, and the other side says cucumbers are eaten raw too, so why are they vegetables. The court’s answer was that how it’s served in a meal is what counts, not whether it’s cooked.

My Own Rule of Thumb

My view is that whether something is a fruit or a vegetable mostly depends on how it’s mainly eaten. If it’s mainly stir-fried, it’s a vegetable, and if it’s mainly eaten raw, it’s a fruit. By that rule, I’d say a tomato is a fruit. That’s just a personal rule though, not an official definition, and the court specifically said raw or cooked doesn’t decide it.

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