What is a vegetable?!
What is a vegetable?
Is a potato a vegetable? Some say it's a starch, but I never heard of a food category called "starches".
What about tomatoes? I've been told their a fruit not a vegetable, as they contain seeds.
Answers:
Don't confuse botanical definitions (where the word 'vegetable' doesn't really exist) and culinary definitions. Botanically, potatoes are tubers (underground stems) and tomatoes are fruit.
In common usage, potatoes are called 'starches' by nutritionists, 'stem' by botanists and 'vegetable' by all other people. Tomatoes are still called 'fruits' by everyone because of a legal issue in the early 20th century over taxation laws. The U.S Supreme Court ruled the tomato to be a fruit (for import/export purposes). I believe fruits were taxed less than vegetables. But the cucumber, eggplant etc are called vegetables by non-botanists, despite being botanical fruits. Had these been as important (economically) as the tomato, and if they had made it to the courts, they too would be called 'fruits' by everyone.