The Taste Buds Say ...

The Taste Buds Say ... -- 22 January 2010

To add some variety to the left-over chicken, I decided to cook some of the frozen mixed vegetables for dinner. Nothing fancy, I just added some butter to the carrots, peas and corn. I know it is still a far cry from the 5 servings of vegetables one is supposed to have but it was a start.

As our meal was about to end, I requested that the veggies be consumed so that we wouldn't have to store it in the ref as left-overs for another meal. RD was happy to oblige.

GI commented, "I don't consider those as vegetables. They are side dishes."

He rattled off a litany of those he considered as vegetables. The list was comprised of mostly either green and leafy or "unpopular" vegetables including kangkong, ampalaya and okra.

I laughed, "So you mean peas, carrots and corn are not considered as vegetables?"

"No!" Ardi replied placing some vegetables on his spoon. "These taste good."

=== o 0 o ===

It is said that FRUITS are the parts of the plants that contain the seed while VEGETABLES are edible plants or parts of plants other than a sweet fruit or seed.

So the obvious fruits would include mangoes, apples, oranges, peaches, pears, grapes, strawberries, bananas, watermelons, cantaloupes, star apples, atis (sugar apple / sweetsop), guyabano (soursop), papaya, rambutan, guavas, langka (jackfruits), durian, santol, etc.

The obvious vegetables could be classified (according to Wikipedia) as

• flower buds -- broccoli, cauliflower
• seeds -- sweet corn, peas, beans
• leaves - kangkong, pechay, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, bok choy, Chinese cabbage (and all those other greens which the kids don't particularly like)
• leaf sheaths -- leeks
• stems of leaves -- celery
• stem shoots -- asparagus, bamboo shoots, ginger
• tubers -- potatoes, sweet potatoes
• whole plant sprouts -- mung beans
• roots -- carrots, beets, radishes,
• bulbs -- onion, garlic

(and more)

In between, meaning they are technically fruits but are not normally called such, would be those which have seeds but are not quite called fruits like tomatoes, cucumber, squash, zucchinis, pumpkins, capsicums (bell peppers), eggplants, okra, chili pepper.

=== o 0 o ===

In the final analysis, all of the above will go down the drain because as far as my boys are concerned, if they taste good, the probability of their being vegetables is close to nil. On the other hand, as far as MyGirl is concerned, she has a different way to tell if something is a fruit. Want to know what the basis is?

"Carrots are fruits because so-and-so brought carrots for fruit break."

So there.