What’s a common “fact” that’s spread around that’s actually not true and pisses you off that too many people believe it?

  • trem@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    8 days ago

    The old “tomatoes are not a vegetable” is pretty frustrating. They are a vegetable.

    In botanical terms, the concept of a vegetable does not exist, which is where tomatoes are classified as fruits. But in culinary terms, vegetables do exist and tomatoes are classified as such.

    I just find it frustrating, because I believed that garbage myself at some point, and I thought, I was smart for knowing that.
    Just one of those examples that you can easily spread misinformation, so long as you make it sound plausible.

    • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      In culinary arts vegetables are the non-sweet edible parts of plants (not fruit). So no, they are not a vegetable.

      What is true is people call them a vegetable.

      • paraplu@piefed.social
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        8 days ago

        Other sweet plant parts are also considered culinary vegetables: carrots, squash, red peppers, sweet potatoes, fennel, and onions.

        Some of them you do have to cook to perceive as sweet, but non-sweet doesn’t seem to be a good dividing line. Striving for non-overlapping categories instead of just accepting the mess seems like a mistake.

        • FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          As a cook, you are wrong. Those are all vegetables. There is no purity test you can run on what is a vegetable and what is not, it’s literally just what people arbitrarily decided however long ago.

        • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          I will accept these are also not vegetables in the culinary sense as well. Looks like you have single handedly eliminate a bunch of vegetables, congratulations.

          • Simon_Shitewood@lemmy.ml
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            7 days ago

            Ok, so what about peas? Or cabbage? Artichokes? What’s the specific cut off for being too sweet to be a vegetable?

            • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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              7 days ago

              If it is sweet and is a berry/fruit like a tomato then it is not a vegetable. I am personally not having a hard time with this. Not sweet = vegetable. Sweet = debatable.

              • Simon_Shitewood@lemmy.ml
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                7 days ago

                Hold on, it didn’t need to be a berry/fruit earlier, does that mean carrots and sweet potatoes are vegetables after all?

                You know what, let’s try this the other way around: could you name specific examples of things you consider vegetables? Because we’ve named quite a lot now and you don’t seem to consider any of them vegetables.

                • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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                  7 days ago

                  I am literally going off the culinary definition which is related to taste. If it is sweet it is a good chance it is a berry or fruit of the plant and not the vegetable matter.

                  • Simon_Shitewood@lemmy.ml
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                    7 days ago

                    Well no, you’re switching between multiple definitions, none of which have ever been used culinarily, but more importantly, can you not name a vegetable? Are beans a vegetable?

                  • Simon_Shitewood@lemmy.ml
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                    7 days ago

                    Wait I got a better one: if carrots and sweet potatoes aren’t vegetables why are they called root vegetables?