Vegetable
Vegetable is a nutritional and
culinary term denoting any part of a
plant that is commonly consumed by humans as
food, but is not regarded as a culinary
fruit,
nut,
herb,
spice, or
grain. In common usage, vegetables include the leaves (e.g.
lettuce), stems (
asparagus), and roots (
carrot) of various plants. But the term can also encompass non-sweet
fruits such as seed-pods (
beans),
cucumbers,
squashes,
pumpkins,
tomatoes,
avocadoes, green
peppers, etc.; even some seeds (
peas and
beans) that are easily softened by soaking.
