과일인가 채소인가? 아니면 박쥐인가?

Among various exotic things that I was encountered with in America was the way of eating tomatoes. In Korea (at least 30-40 years ago), this 'fruit' was eaten only as a fruit. During sticky summer days like here, people used to buy some tomatoes from the street and cut them into pieces. With sugars sprinkled on the top, it was one of the best summer snacks that relieved my hunger. Therefore, I had never imagined 'cooking' tomatoes, because they were fruits.
In here, tomatoes are used in many different ways such as tomato juices and tomato sauce, puree, sandwich and salad. The tomato sauce is an essential ingredient for Italian dishes (pizza and pasta). It was very strange to see that a fruit is processed or mixed with others to be eaten ^^!

So question is: is tomato fruit or vegetable (과일인가 채소인가)? I found one interesting article regarding this argument. Here is the link for the article below. ‘www.library.northwestern.edu/govinfo/news/2009/04/a_tomato_celebration.html’

Tomato & Definition

a fruit in science, but a vegetable in legislation

Botanically, a tomato is the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant: therefore it is a fruit or, more precisely, a berry. However, the tomato is not as sweet as those foodstuffs usually called fruits and, from a culinary standpoint, it is typically served as part of a salad or main course of a meal, as are vegetables, rather than at dessert in the case of most fruits.

This argument has had legal implications in the United States. In 1887, U.S. tariff laws that imposed a duty (관세) on vegetables but not on fruits caused the tomato's status to become a matter of legal importance. The U.S. Supreme Court settled the controversy on May 10, 1893 by declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, based on the popular definition that classifies vegetables by use, that they are generally served with dinner and not dessert (Nix v. Hedden (149 U.S. 304)). The holding of the case applies only to the interpretation of the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883, and the court did not purport to reclassify the tomato for botanical or other purposes other than for paying a tax under a tariff act.

Biologically speaking, tomatoes must be fruits, because they are from the fertilized flowers. However, such definition does not seem to be working in the food business. Whenever money is involved, even a trivial matter becomes a serious matter.....
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