Vegetable

Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. the original meaning is still usually used as well as is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including a flowers, fruits, stems, leaves, roots, as well as seeds. An selection definition of the term is applied somewhat arbitrarily, often by culinary and cultural tradition. It may exclude foods derived from some plants that are fruits, flowers, nuts, and cereal grains, but increase savoury fruits such(a) as tomatoes and courgettes, flowers such as broccoli, and seeds such(a) as pulses.

Originally, vegetables were collected from the wild by agricultural way of life developed. At first, plants which grew locally would pull in been cultivated, but as time went on, trade brought exotic crops from elsewhere to put to home types. Nowadays, nearly vegetables are grown all over the world as climate permits, and crops may be cultivated in protected managers in less suitable locations. China is the largest producer of vegetables, and global trade in agricultural products allowed consumers to purchase vegetables grown in faraway countries. The scale of production varies from subsistence farmers supplying the needs of their race for food, to agribusinesses with vast acreages of single-product crops. Depending on the type of vegetable concerned, harvesting the crop is followed by grading, storing, processing, and marketing.

Vegetables can be eaten either raw or cooked and play an important role in human nutrition, being mostly low in fat and carbohydrates, but high in vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. numerous nutritionists encourage people to consume plenty of fruit and vegetables, five or more portions a day often being recommended.

Terminology

The exact definition of "vegetable" may recast simply because of the many parts of a plant consumed as food worldwide—roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds. The broadest definition is the word's use adjectivally to mean "matter of plant origin". More specifically, a vegetable may be defined as "any plant, component of which is used for food", a secondary meaning then being "the edible component of such a plant". A more precise definition is "any plant part consumed for food that is not a fruit or seed, but including mature fruits that are eaten as part of a main meal". Falling outside these definitions are edible fungi such as edible mushrooms and edible seaweed which, although not parts of plants, are often treated as vegetables.

In the latter-mentioned definition of "vegetable", which is used in everyday language, the words "fruit" and "vegetable" are mutually exclusive. "Fruit" has a precise botanical meaning, being a part that developed from the ovary of a flowering plant. This is considerably different from the word's culinary meaning. While peaches, plums, and oranges are "fruit" in both senses, many items usually called "vegetables", such as eggplants, bell peppers, and tomatoes, are botanically fruits. The question of whether the tomato is a fruit or a vegetable found its way into the United States Supreme Court in 1893. The court ruled unanimously in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is correctly indicated as, and thus taxed as, a vegetable, for the purposes of the Tariff of 1883 on imported produce. The court did acknowledge, however, that, botanically speaking, a tomato is a fruit.