Vegetable The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed.

This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant. However, the word is not scientific, and its meaning is largely based on culinary and cultural tradition. Therefore, the application of the word is somewhat arbitrary and subjective. For example, some people consider mushrooms to be vegetables even though they are not plants, while others consider them a separate food category. Some vegetables can be consumed raw, some may be eaten cooked, and some must be cooked in order to be edible. Vegetables are most often cooked in savory or salty dishes. However, a few vegetables are often used in desserts and other sweet dishes, such as rhubarb pie and carrot cake. As an adjective, the word vegetable is used in scientific and technical contexts with a different and much broader meaning, namely of "related to plants" in general, edible or not as in vegetable matter, vegetable kingdom, vegetable origin, etc. The meaning of "vegetable" as "plant grown for food" was not established until the 18th century.

Examples of different parts of plants used as vegetables The list of food items called "vegetable" is quite long, and includes many different parts of plants: Flower bud broccoli, cauliflower, globe artichokes Seeds Sweet corn (maize), peas, beans Leaves kale, collard greens, spinach, arugula, beet greens, bok choy, chard, choi sum, turnip greens, endive, lettuce, mustard greens, watercress, garlic chives, gai lan Leaf sheaths leeks Buds Brussels sprouts, capers Stem Kohlrabi

Stems of leaves celery, rhubarb, cardoon, Chinese celery, and lemon grass Stem shoots asparagus, bamboo shoots, galangal, and ginger Tubers potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, sweet potatoes, taro, and yams Whole-plant sprouts soybean (moyashi), mung beans, urad, and alfalfa. Roots carrots, parsnips, beets, radishes, rutabagas, turnips, and burdocks. Roots Bulbs onions, shallots, garlic Fruits in the botanical sense, but used as vegetables tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, zucchinis, pumpkins, peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, christophene, okra, breadfruit and avocado, and also the following: Legumes green beans, lentils, snow peas, soybean cilantro in Spanish Nutrition Leaf vegetables are typically low in calories, low in fat, high in protein per calorie, high in dietary fiber, high in iron and calcium, and very high in phytochemicals such as vitamin C, carotenoids, lutein, folate as well as vitamin K. Preparation Leaf vegetables may stir-fried, stewed or steamed. Leaf vegetables stewed with pork are a traditional dish in soul food, and southern U.S. cuisine. They are also commonly eaten in a variety of South Asian dishes such as saag. Leafy greens can be used to wrap other ingredients like a tortilla. Many green leafy vegetables, such as lettuce or spinach, can also be eaten raw, for example in sandwiches or salads. A green smoothie enables large quantities of raw leafy greens to be consumed by blending the leaves with fruit and water.