All Hail the Tomato!

Is it a fruit? Is it a veggie? Do we care? If you're into trivia, like me, you might be interested to hear the (potentially hypocryphal) tale about tomatoes - tomatoes were considered veggies way back in the days after Boston Harbor got steeped in tea (tomatoes were brought to the US a bit after 1800). However, veggies were taxed at a higher rate than fruit, so the sellers advocated for a legal change. Prior to that, it was generally thought of as a vegetable (according to a book which I just read, which unfortunately has seeped through the holes in my sometimes sieve-like brain, so I can't cite it for you here) - not based on scientific thought, just the common understanding.

What's the technical difference between a fruit and a vegetable? According to Ask Yahoo, fruit is defined as: "the sweet, ripened ovary or ovaries of a seed-bearing plant. A vegetable, in contrast, is an herbaceous plant cultivated for an edible part (seeds, roots, stems, leaves, bulbs, tubers, or nonsweet fruits). So, to be really nitpicky, a fruit could be a vegetable, but a vegetable could not be a fruit."

So this means that tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, avocados, peppers, pumpkins, peapods, and zucchini are fruit.

Now, in my mind, this is just wrong.

Not from a biological perspective. I fully recognize that given the definition of a fruit, these all qualify, and scientifically, these are considered fruit. So my definition of fruit is much more culturally driven. For me, fruit=sweet. Salad=vegetable.

Now I feel like I'm on the wrong side of the debate in what could be a big metaphor for evolution vs. creationism (no offense to those of you creationists, but I'm staunchly on science's side here). I'm advocating what I feel to be true as reality, and through my blog, I'm trying to impose it on others. Blech. So here's my thing - these fregetables evolved with fruit-like qualities, I'll grant you that. And if you want to call them fruits, then please be my guest, as I wouldn't impose my fruit-loving terminology upon you. But to my mind, all of these on the list are vegetables, and that's how I'll refer to them from now on.

Now that my Jupiter-sized tangent is done, let's proceed!

Tomatoes have lycopene in them, which is an antioxidant that supposedly helps to prevent prostate cancer, heart disease, and other (mysteriously vague) cancers and diseases. However, the lycopene is bound up in the cell walls, and our bodies have a hard time extracting it from raw tomatoes (source). So cooking releases the lycopene more easily into our system.

But really, is lycopene the cure-all it seems to be (is anything, ever)? One of the largest studies on cancer done by the National Cancer Institute showed that tomatoes didn't really prevent against prostate cancer, and the beta-carotene can actually increase its risk. Ensuing studies showed no link whatsoever between lycopene and prostate cancer. So the study suggests eating veggies plentifully, but not taking beta carotene supplements (if you're a guy at risk for prostate cancer. Otherwise, have at it).

Tomatoes also have tons of vitamin C (no more scurvy!), vitamin A (no more night blindness!), potassium, and a little bit of fiber (not as much as broccoli say, but more than a candy bar, so that's good enough for me! See a list of fiber content here). And as Christine Hanley put it so wonderfully on Cranky Fitness yesterday, eating lots of fiber can cut down on the rates of colon cancer.)

And they're in season! I picked up some very pretty ones with orangey-yellow stripes at the farmer's market the other day. Sliced up with some basil, mozzarella, and olive oil makes a perfect appetizer to a meal.

In a few weeks, I'll post up my recipe for clam-stuffed tomatoes, as I make mega-amounts to freeze and unearth in the dead of winter.