Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?（西红柿是水果还是蔬菜？）

Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?

西红柿是水果还是蔬菜？

The confusion about 'fruit' and 'vegetable' arises because of the differences in usage between scientists and cooks. Scientifically speaking, a tomato is definitely a fruit. True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant (though cultivated forms may be seedless). Blueberries, raspberries, and oranges are true fruits, and so are many kinds of nut. Some plants have a soft part which supports the seeds and is also called a 'fruit', though it is not developed from the ovary: the strawberry is an example.

关于西红柿到底是水果还是蔬菜的困惑，主要源于科学家和厨师在对tomoato一词使用域上的差异。在科学家看来，西红柿肯定是一种水果。真正的水果都是源于花朵中的子房，并且含有植物的种子（尽管栽培形式可能是无籽栽培）。蓝莓、山竹、橘子都是真正的水果，很多坚果也是。有的植物会有一个柔软的部位，包裹着种子，因此这个部位也被称作“水果”，尽管其实这个部位并不是从子房发育而来的，草莓就是这类“水果”。

As far as cooking is concerned, some things which are strictly fruits, such as tomatoes or bean pods, may be called 'vegetables' because they are used in savoury rather than sweet cooking. The term 'vegetable' is more generally used of other edible parts of plants, such as cabbage leaves, celery stalks, and potato tubers, which are not strictly the fruit of the plant from which they come. Occasionally the term 'fruit' may be used to refer to a part of a plant which is not a fruit, but which is used in sweet cooking: rhubarb, for example.

在厨师看来，有些严格意义上讲是水果的东西（比如西红柿或豆荚），会被叫做“蔬菜”，这是因为这些水果不是用来甜食的烹饪上，而是用在咸食的烹饪上。“蔬菜”一词更为普遍地用来指代植物其他的可食用部位，比如说卷心菜叶、芹菜梗、土豆块茎，这些部位严格意义上讲并不是植物的水果。有的时候，“水果”一词可能会被用来指代植物的某个部位，但这个部位并不是水果，但会被用在甜食烹饪上，比如大黄。

So, the answer to the question is that a tomato is technically the fruit of the tomato plant, but it's used as a vegetable in cooking.

所以，问题的答案来了：西红柿从技术上讲，是西红柿植株的“水果”，但在烹饪上被用作了“蔬菜”。