[Sca-cooks] Fruit or vegetable?

[David Walddon]

I am looking for a working definition between a fruit and a vegetable.

Does anyone have a good one? Or comments on the below?

The many definitions I have found are at odds with each other or fog  
the issue with ambiguity!

There is a broad definition of vegetable as the edible part of a  
plant. So a fruit could be considered a vegetable since one  
definition of a fruit is the mature ovary of a plant (an edible part  
of the plant).

Another definition is that a vegetable is the edible product of a  
herbaceous plant (soft stemmed) and a fruit is the edible product of  
woody stems such as shrubs and trees. So a melon would be a  
vegetable, but most people would consider it to be a fruit. Tomatoes  
would be a vegetable (soft stemmed) but it could be consider a fruit  
because 1) it is the mature ovary and 2) yet another definition of a  
fruit is that it "carries seeds" vegetable do not (Lettuce, carrots,  
etc.)

A definition from the late 1400's (in Italy) would be ideal since the  
paper I am working on deals with vegetables from that time period and  
place. Platina has multiple definitions for fruits and vegetables,  
but doesn't have a hard and fast rule (that I can find yet!). Florio  
(later period Italian to English dictionary) is of no help from the  
fruit end of things and confusing on the vegetable side.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

Eduardo

________________________________________________________

Food is life. May the plenty that graces your table truly be a VAST  
REPAST.

David Walddon
david at vastrepast.com
www.vastrepast.com
web.mac.com/dwalddon