Vegetable
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Image:Vegetable market.jpg Image:Fruitandveg.png Image:Tomatos in vegie garden.jpg
- For other uses, see Vegetable (disambiguation).
Vegetable is a culinary term. Its definition has no scientific value, and is somehow arbitrary and subjective.
Any part of a herbaceous plant that humans eat whole or in part is a vegetable, except for culinary fruits and arguably grains, nuts, herbs, and spices. Also, mushrooms are commonly considered vegetables, despite belonging to a different biological kingdom, namely fungi (which used to be classified as plants).
Vegetables include leaf vegetables (for example lettuce), stem vegetables (asparagus), root vegetables (carrot), flower vegetables (broccoli), bulbs (garlic) and botanical fruits such as cucumbers, squashes, pumpkins, avocados, capsicums, as well as botanical pulses such as green beans, and fleshy, immature seeds such as those of peas or beans.
Since "vegetable" is not a botanical term, there is no contradiction in a plant part being a fruit botanically while still being considered a vegetable (see diagram).
In general, vegetables are thought of as being savoury, and not sweet (with some exceptions, such as rhubarb and pumpkin).
Commercial production of vegetables is a branch of horticulture called olericulture.
Etymology (Word Origin)
Vegetable is also used as a literary term for any plant: vegetable matter, vegetable kingdom. It comes from Latin vegetabilis (animated) and from vegetare (enliven) in reference to the process of a plant growing. It wasn't until the 15th century when the word Vegetable was first used in print. And not until the 18th century when the word was used as a noun referring directly to the category of plants.
See also
External links
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