番茄你個(gè)西紅柿，你到底是水果還是蔬菜？

No food straddles the line between fruit and vegetable more famously than the tomato.

沒(méi)有什么食物比番茄更能橫跨水果和蔬菜。

And while your elementary-school teacher or know-it-all friend may have informed you that tomatoes are technically fruits, the answer isn't so clear-cut. In reality, tomatoes are both fruits and vegetables at the same time.

許你的小學(xué)老師或某個(gè)博學(xué)朋友曾經(jīng)告訴過(guò)你：從嚴(yán)格意義上講，番茄屬于水果。但其實(shí)，答案并非如此分明，番茄的確既是蔬菜也是水果。這是因?yàn)?ldquo;水果”有兩種不同的定義。

The explanation lies in the two different ways that "fruit" is defined. First, it is true that scientifically speaking, tomatoes are fruits.

首先，從科學(xué)角度講，番茄屬于水果，這點(diǎn)的確沒(méi)錯(cuò)。

According to Merriam-Webster, a fruit is "the usually edible reproductive body of a seed plant." In a blog post, the dictionary explained it in simpler terms: "Any thing that grows on a plant and is the means by which that plant gets its seeds out into the world is a fruit."

韋氏詞典告訴我們：水果通常是“種子植物的可食生殖部位”。此外，它還作出了更簡(jiǎn)單的解釋?zhuān)?ldquo;水果是長(zhǎng)在植物上、能夠?qū)⒅参锓N子帶到外部世界的東西”。

That definition includes apples, tomatoes, and anything else that grows from a plant and contains seeds. (Cucumbers, peppers, pumpkins, and avocados are all fruits too, according to science.)

這個(gè)定義包括了蘋(píng)果、番茄等任何包含種子的植物部位。從科學(xué)意義上講，黃瓜、胡椒、南瓜、牛油果都屬于水果。

Vegetables, on the other hand, have a slightly murkier definition. It's a word we use to group together a wide range of plants whose parts are edible and herbaceous, like roots, stems, and leaves. The critical distinction is that, according to the dictionary, a vegetable must be part of a plant or the whole plant itself, while fruits are just the means by which certain plants spread their seeds.

然而，蔬菜的定義要模糊得多。通常，我們用這個(gè)詞指代一大批具有可食草本部分(如根、莖、葉)的植物。根據(jù)韋氏詞典，蔬菜和水果的關(guān)鍵區(qū)別是：蔬菜必須是植物的一部分或整體植物本身，而水果只是特定植物傳播種子的方式。

"The thing a tomato plant produces isn't a part of the plant itself, any more than the egg a chicken lays is part of the chicken, or the apple is part of the tree on which it grew," Merriam-Webster wrote.

Merriam Webster寫(xiě)道：“番茄不是植物本身的一部分，就像蛋不是雞本身的一部分;同理，蘋(píng)果也不是蘋(píng)果樹(shù)的一部分。”

But the confusion arises because "vegetable" isn't a botanical classification so much as it is a culinary one. And "fruit" can be a culinary term, too — described as "having a sweet pulp associated with the seed" and "used chiefly in a dessert or sweet course," according to Merriam-Webster. So scientifically, fruits don't have to be sweet, but in the kitchen, most people would classify the fruits that fall on the savory side, like tomatoes, as vegetables.

但問(wèn)題在于：“蔬菜”不是一種植物學(xué)分類(lèi)，而更多的屬于一種烹飪食材。與此同時(shí)，“水果”也可以是一種烹飪食材。根據(jù)韋氏詞典：從烹飪食材的角度，水果被定義為“擁有帶種子的甜果肉”、“主要用于甜點(diǎn)”的東西。也就是說(shuō)，從科學(xué)角度看，水果不必是甜的;但從烹飪角度看，大多數(shù)人會(huì)將用于做菜的水果(如番茄)歸類(lèi)為蔬菜。

Nutritionists recognize the terms as they are commonly used, and tomatoes are listed as a vegetable under USDA guidelines.

在美國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)部(USDA)的指導(dǎo)方針里，番茄被列為蔬菜。

Even the Supreme Court has weighed in on the issue. In 1893, the high court was forced to rule on whether imported tomatoes should be taxed under the Tariff Act of 1883, which only applied to vegetables and not fruits. Although both sides cited dictionary definitions of the two words, the court sided unanimously with #TeamVegetable.

甚至連美國(guó)最高法院都曾介入過(guò)這個(gè)問(wèn)題。1893年，最高法院作出裁決，進(jìn)口番茄應(yīng)該按蔬菜進(jìn)行征稅。

Justice Horace Gray summed up the argument succinctly:

法官Horace Gray作出簡(jiǎn)單總結(jié)：

"Botanically speaking, tomatoes are the fruit of a vine, just as are cucumbers, squashes, beans, and peas," Gray wrote in the court's opinion."But in the common language of the people … all these are vegetables which are grown in kitchen gardens, and which, whether eaten cooked or raw, are, like potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets, cauliflower, cabbage, celery, and lettuce, usually served at dinner in, with, or after the soup, fish, or meats which constitute the principal part of the repast, and not, like fruits generally, as dessert."

從植物學(xué)上講，番茄是藤本植物的水果，就像黃瓜、南瓜、豌豆、蠶豆一樣。但在人們的日常語(yǔ)言中，這些都是種在菜園里的蔬菜。它像土豆、蘿卜、歐洲蘿卜、蕪菁、甜菜、菜花、卷心菜、芹菜、生菜一樣，無(wú)論生吃還是熟吃，通常都是在晚餐里搭配著湯、魚(yú)、肉一起吃。它構(gòu)成飲食的主要部分，而不像水果一樣，通常作為甜點(diǎn)。