Vegetables and Fruits

Much of green consumerism entails consumption of healthy and sustainably grown foods. Perhaps considered the healthiest of foods, vegetables and fruits are often, however, grown, packaged, and distributed in ecologically unsustainable manners. Moreover, even [Page 449]the most emblematic of healthy foods—apples, bananas, spinach, corn—have recently come under scrutiny as carriers of highly toxic residual pesticides, controversial transgenetic alteration, and even diseases, such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella. Despite—or because of—these environmentally and socially unsustainable aspects of conventional vegetable and fruit production, green consumers have begun to value ripe, fresh, organic, and/or local produce even more by investing heavily in purchasing and even growing it. Concurrently, as industrialized diets move deeper into the health quagmire (and vicious cycle) of highly processed food, drink, and pharmaceutical medication, vegetables and fruits become even more recommended, prescribed, and lauded. Across the board, fruits and vegetables are upheld as linchpins of good health, and the organic, non–genetically modified, and local among them are often heralded as icons of sustainability.

Fruits and vegetables are upheld as linchpins of good health, while the organic, non–genetically modified, and locally grown types are often heralded as icons of sustainability

Source: Bob Nichols/Agricultural Research Service/USDA

Biologically speaking, the term vegetable refers to the edible part of a nonwoody plant cultivated particularly for that edible part. Many herbaceous plants are related as family clusters, such as nightshades, allium, cucurbits, and brassica. Meanwhile, fruits are the ripened, swollen ovary of a flower after the ovules inside have been fertilized. Fruits contain the seeds of any flowering plants and can be divided into three main subclasses: those with seeds in the flesh, such as pears, citrus, melons, and berries; those containing pits (drupes), such as cherries, peaches, and plums; and dry fruits (dry drupes), such as certain nuts, beans, and peas.

On closer botanical inspection, however, this technical distinction blurs. Because a vegetable is by definition the edible part of any herbaceous plant (be it the root of the carrot plant, the floret of the broccoli plant, the seed of the bean, the bulb of the garlic, or the leaf of the spinach), and fruits are the seed-containing part of any flowering plant, the two are not mutually exclusive. Tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, and cucumbers fit both vegetable and fruit classifications, and somewhat counterintuitively, olives, sugar peapods, avocados, coffee, and almonds would all technically count as fruits. Fruit serves as a more botanically specific term, whereas vegetable remains more a grocer or chef classification (though this fruit definition begs the question of the oxymoron of seedless fruit).

Despite the arbitrary difference and contested definitions of vegetables and fruits, the categories remain relatively firm in mainstream, culinary, public health, and horticultural parlance. Vegetables usually contain complex carbohydrates, whereas fruits offer mostly simple carbohydrates with more readily accessible sugars (fructose). In many traditional cuisines, different fruits and vegetables have respective properties, often associated with heating or cooling attributes, and their various combinations enhance nutrient absorption and benefit. According to Ayurveda, the ancient Indian medical lineage, for instance, [Page 450]vegetables and fruits should not be mixed, and most fruits should be eaten separately, because each requires particular (and often conflicting) digestive enzymes.

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