Tomato

The tomato is a red, juicy fruit of the nightshade family. Botanically it is a fruit, indeed a berry, because it grows from a flower and contains seeds. Legally, in the United States, it is a vegetable. In 1893, in the case of Nix v. Hedden, the US Supreme Court ruled that tomatoes should be taxed as vegetables, because that is how people cook and eat them.^[1] The tomato is therefore the only food whose classification depends on whether you are standing in a garden or a courtroom.

The case

At the time, imported vegetables were taxed but imported fruits were not. A family of importers argued that tomatoes were fruit and should not be taxed. The court agreed that botanists would call the tomato a fruit, but ruled that in ordinary language it was a vegetable, since it is usually served with dinner rather than as dessert.^[2]

• Botany: fruit (a berry).
• Supreme Court: vegetable.
• Fruit salad: not usually.
• Banana: also a berry, also not consulted.

Suspicion

When tomatoes first reached Europe from the Americas in the sixteenth century, they were regarded with suspicion in some places, partly because they belong to the same plant family as deadly nightshade. For a time some people grew them only as ornamental plants. They are now among the most widely eaten foods in the world, and nobody has apologised to them.

See also

• Banana – another berry
• Red – its colour
• Meeting – how such things are decided
• Carrot – a vegetable, without the paperwork
• Ketchup – what happens to them next

References

1. Nix, J. v. Hedden, E. (1893). Fictional summary of a real case.
2. Verdict, V. (2001). Fruit in the Garden, Vegetable in Court. Bench Press.
3. Nightshade, N. (1996). “We Were Only Ornamental”. Garden History 1: 1.