Tomatoes. Ben Franklin.

CHasR · Post by **CHasR** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 7:19 pm

TOMATOES:

Fruit?
or
Vegetable?

CHasR · Post by **CHasR** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 8:07 pm

CHasR wrote:Fruit?
or
Vegetable?

if it's ok with the mods,
I'm going to combine this tomato poll thread with one about pictures and videos of Ben Franklin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l8iiU6FrBk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrTxZoDS7oo

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 8:19 pm

Cool. But his brother William was my great x [big number] grandfather.
Do you have any pictures of William?

MTGuru · Post by **MTGuru** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 8:31 pm

Fruit?, or Vegetable?

Who, Franklin? I thought he was meat-based ...

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 8:36 pm

Tomatoes?
Fruit, but I use them as I'd use an herb.

Ben Franklin?
He always sounded like quite an interesting fellow to me.

CHasR · Post by **CHasR** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:00 pm

MTGuru wrote:
Fruit?, or Vegetable?
Who, Franklin? I thought he was meat-based ...

clearly, Ben was no fruit

Especiallment en Paris, ma non?
Wm. Franklin? never heard of him.
But, Ben (finally) married Betsy Ross last July 3rd.
I'm not having much luck finding tomato-based franklin products;
odd, because everything else is named after him.
one would think there'd be a 'Franklin' breed tomato. "Big Ben" or something like this.

Coffee · Post by **Coffee** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:43 pm

Tomatoes have the following characteristics:
They contain seeds
They are berries
They are involved in the reproduction, rather than sustainment, of their parent plant

My (non)expert opinion? They're most certainly fruits.

djm · Post by **djm** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:58 pm

You missed: they come from flowers, ergo Fruit.

It's a little known fact that Betsy used to use Ben's pate for crushing tomatoes upon, a matter that this thread's author cleverly downplayed in an attempt to catch out the pretenders.

djm

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 6:07 am

They are alien pod-spawn from another planet. Unquestionably. Think of their culpability as migraine-triggers, and also as aggravating factors influencing arthritis.
Their nutrition is "increased" if you cook them well. Vegans claim tomatoes are poisonous. I can see the Vegan's point. That guy who made the film "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" knew what he was talking about.

mutepointe · Post by **mutepointe** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 7:22 am

In all ways, I treat them as a veggie. Store bought tomatoes are alien spawn. Home grown tomatoes, no matter what the variety, are an acidic peace on earth, when slathered in mayonaise.

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 7:27 am

I'm gonna go with Ben Franklin. I like his stores better than store-bought tomatoes.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 7:32 am

Cofaidh wrote:Tomatoes have the following characteristics:
They contain seeds
They are berries
They are involved in the reproduction, rather than sustainment, of their parent plant

My (non)expert opinion? They're most certainly fruits.

That is, of course, the botanical answer,
but I decided to vote "veggie" this time, on the basis of general usage of the thing. Picture this: You open your bag
lunch to find a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, a bag of chips, a cookie, and a....tomato?
Nope. When viewed from this pov, it's a veg.

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 7:38 am

'cause it's messier than an apple or an orange?

izzarina · Post by **izzarina** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 7:47 am

emmline wrote:Picture this: You open your bag
lunch to find a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, a bag of chips, a cookie, and a....tomato?
Nope. When viewed from this pov, it's a veg.

I actually have one child that would prefer a tomato over any other fruit. But then he's a bit odd like that.

According to Wiki:

Wiki wrote:This argument has had legal implications in the United States. In 1887, U.S. tariff laws that imposed a duty 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 in 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)).[17] 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 paying a tax under a tariff act.

So apparently, if a tomato is here in the US, legally it is a vegetable, but once someone takes it over the border into Canada, it again becomes a fruit. Unless, of course, you've already paid taxes on it, then it will vegetable forever, the poor thing.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 7:50 am

izzarina wrote:
emmline wrote:Picture this: You open your bag
lunch to find a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, a bag of chips, a cookie, and a....tomato?
Nope. When viewed from this pov, it's a veg.
I actually have one child that would prefer a tomato over any other fruit. But then he's a bit odd like that.

True story:
Our children were small and we'd set up an Easter egg hunt for them and their young cousin Tom in the grandparents'
backyard. My husband Jeff, trickster always, had--as we loaded the eggs with candy, jelly beans, junk--stuffed a couple
with broccoli chunks. Very funny.
Tom comes upon an egg, opens it, and says with great delight "BROCCOLI!" before shoving it in his mouth.

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