Escola Secundária de Loulé
Some of the most important food components that must be consumed daily according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) are fruits and vegetables.
In its modern usage the word "vegetable" is strictly a culinary term, and is not a botanical or scientific term. The word "fruit" on the other hand can be a culinary term, or it can be a botanical term, and these two usages are quite different.
Botanically speaking, fruits are fleshy reproductive organs of plants, the ripened ovaries containing one or many seeds. Thus, many botanical fruits are not edible at all, and some are actually extremely poisonous.
In a culinary sense however, the word "fruit" is applied only to those botanical fruits or similar plant parts which are both edible and palatable, and which in addition are considered suitable to be a sweet or dessert food, such as strawberries, peaches, plums, etc.
In contrast to this, a number of edible botanical fruits, including the tomato, the eggplant, and the bell pepper, are not considered to be sweet or dessert foods, are not routinely used with sugar, but instead are almost always used as part of a savoury dish, and are salted. This is the reason that they are labelled as "vegetables". Thus in a scientific context, a plant part may correctly be termed a "fruit", even though it is used in cooking or food preparation as a vegetable: a good example of this is the tomato.
In its modern usage the word "vegetable" is strictly a culinary term, and is not a botanical or scientific term. The word "fruit" on the other hand can be a culinary term, or it can be a botanical term, and these two usages are quite different.
Botanically speaking, fruits are fleshy reproductive organs of plants, the ripened ovaries containing one or many seeds. Thus, many botanical fruits are not edible at all, and some are actually extremely poisonous.
In a culinary sense however, the word "fruit" is applied only to those botanical fruits or similar plant parts which are both edible and palatable, and which in addition are considered suitable to be a sweet or dessert food, such as strawberries, peaches, plums, etc.
In contrast to this, a number of edible botanical fruits, including the tomato, the eggplant, and the bell pepper, are not considered to be sweet or dessert foods, are not routinely used with sugar, but instead are almost always used as part of a savoury dish, and are salted. This is the reason that they are labelled as "vegetables". Thus in a scientific context, a plant part may correctly be termed a "fruit", even though it is used in cooking or food preparation as a vegetable: a good example of this is the tomato.
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