[mastazi]

> (note: botanically watermelons are vegetables, but culturally we eat them as fruit)

Wait a second, I thought it was the other way around, i.e. I thought that "cousins" of watermelons such as cucumber, squash or zucchini were botanically fruits but we ate them as vegetables. Otherwise, how come that we call them "fruiting vegetables"? Can someone with more knowledge than me, explain this?

[KMnO4]

That is correct. Vegetable isn’t really a botanical word since you typically refer to the specific parts of the plant (eg root, bulb, leaves, flower, fruit, etc). Vegetable is just a catch-all to cover “parts of the plant we eat”.

Fruits have a specific definition: the seed-bearing body of a plant produced by the ovary after flowering. I.e. if you have a flowering plant, the “fruit” is the part that contains the seeds.

[gumby]

... And the watermelon, like all gourds, is one of them: a plant cultivated only for its fruit. That appears to be a bug in the blog post. Some plants, are eaten both ways (both the fruiting body and leaves or other body parts are consumed).

With fungi we eat only the fruiting body, but nobody calls them “fruit” except in the superclass sense (“fruit of the land”)

[catlikesshrimp]

We don't call them fruit, we call them mushroom. And they can't have fruits, as in pear tress or other angiosperm plants, because mushrooms aren't plants.

The fruiting body, which is not fruit, doesn't have seeds. They have spores, I think.

[powersnail]

I think you are right. Vegetable has only a culinary definition, not a botanical one. And I don't think many people would classify watermelons as a vegetable, except that watermelon skins are sometimes used for cooking.

On the other hand, watermelons are definitely fruits, in both the botanical and culinary sense.

This is reminds me of this video: [No Such Thing As A Fish](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhwcEvMJz1Y)

[stewbrew]

You can grill watermelons, mix them with sheep cheese etc. Watermelons are so much more than just a sweet snack if that's what you mean by fruits in the culinary sense.

[catlikesshrimp]

Corrected: "note: botanically watermelons, squashes, and cucumbers are all in the same family and are fruit, but culturally we use most of them as vegetables except for the watermelon"

[uulu]

What does it mean: "to eat something as vegetable"?

[silisili]

It's a very deep rabbit hole, but apparently, vegetables are eaten as a main course, and fruit as a dessert.

I only even remember this because of an argument I had many years ago regarding whether a tomato was a vegetable or fruit. I chose the veggie side, but had no real evidence. Come to find out, after researching, the Supreme Court agreed.

It's all rather silly, honestly, but have a read for yourself on the background and decision.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nix_v._Hedden

[memco]

Another fun brain bender you can drop on people at your next dinner is that bananas and tomatoes are both berries but strawberries and blackberries are not.

[anang]

I think Wikipedia draws a good distinction here: culinary and botanical. So, banana is NOT berry in a culinary sense, and a strawberry is. Even if, botanically it’s the opposite.

I think it’s an important distinction because people using the term “berry” almost always are using it in a culinary context and not a botanical context.

No one wants a pie with fresh “aggregate accessory fruits”, just as much as no one would think it’s correct to call an eggplant tomato pie a dessert with “fresh berries”.

[geoduck14]

>I only even remember this because of an argument I had many years ago regarding whether a tomato was a vegetable or fruit. I chose the veggie side, but had no real evidence. Come to find out, after researching, the Supreme Court agreed.

Does anyone else remember when Congress told everyone that pizza was a vegetable? Haha. Good times.

[coremoff]

Without meaning to defend it too much, as I believe it's mostly a marketting/lobying thing...

As I understand it, the issue was whether or not you could count a pizza towards your vegetable quota. The argument came down to the nutritional content of the tomato sauce on the pizza; nutritionally, this was very similar to the requirements for other things that can be classified as vegetables, and so one portion of pizza was deemed to also count as one portion of vegetables.

[DonHopkins]

According to the late great Petey Greene on WDCA Channel 20, you have to pick it up just like this, and put just a twang of salt on it, and it brings out the accent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-eitsutpOc

>Petey Greene - How to Eat Watermelon (Enhanced): In this clip from civil rights activist Petey Greene's Washington DC television program in the Spring of 1982, Greene explains how to eat watermelon. Utterly bizarre. Also, pointers on eating corn and fried chicken.

Relevant comments:

>"man, some people just can't see the message. he's litterally saying 'watermelon is delicious, you're a fool if you change yourself because of what other people might think'"

>"I dont think people got the message he delivered. It was kinda about the watermelon but also more about how blacks are embarrassed to be themselves after so much stereotypes for doing things the way our people were accustomed to and for the same people(whites) we r trying to negate this stereotype to theyre "eating watermelon fred chicken and corn on the cob" the same way we shame our own people for being stereotyped for."

>"I pledge to live my life with the same passion as this man and his love for watermelon"

Check out his bio and the films based on his amazing life:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petey_Greene

>Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, and during the subsequent riots that erupted throughout the United States, Greene made statements on air that were credited with helping quell the riots in Washington, D.C.

Talk To Me (2007) - Official Trailer (HD)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh7IkEL7Des

Adjust Your Color: The Truth of Petey Greene (Trailer)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1QuIZT6c1c

[teddyh]

http://www.absurdnotions.org/an20000915.gif

(From http://www.absurdnotions.org/page55.html)

[gwbas1c]

If you peel the rind and then fry or pickle it, it's eaten as a vegetable.