The tomato was legally declared a vegetable by the Supreme Court of the United States under a dispute regarding tariff law in 1893 [Nix v. Hedden (149 U.S. 304)]. There are various definitions for the term vegetable. For example, a vegetable can be defined as a herbaceous (non-woody) plant or plant part that can be eaten without processing and is usually consumed with the main meal. The term vegetable relates to culinary use of a plant or plant part and does not address the botanical significance or classification of a particular plant part or structure. Botanically, the tomato (the structure that is consumed) is an ovary and therefore, by definition, a fruit. Furthermore, the tomato fruit is classified as a berry. So one could make a case that a tomato is both a fruit and a vegetable, depending on the context of the discussion.
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