Vegetable

A vegetable is a common culinary term for the edible parts of plants, especially roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, or seeds eaten as savoury foods.

Vegetable is a common culinary term for the edible parts of plants, especially roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, or seeds eaten as savoury foods. In botany, the word can also refer broadly to plant life, but there is no single strict scientific definition.

What it is

In everyday language, a vegetable is any edible portion of a herbaceous plant used as food. Britannica notes that the term can broadly mean plant matter, but its narrow meaning focuses on plant parts like roots, stems, leaves, bulbs, flowers, fruits, and seeds that are typically cooked or eaten fresh in savoury dishes.

How it's classified

Vegetables are often grouped by the part of the plant that is eaten, such as root vegetables, leafy vegetables, stem vegetables, and seed vegetables. This classification is practical rather than strictly scientific, which is why some foods like tomatoes are botanically fruits but culinarily treated as vegetables.

Nutrition and culinary use

Vegetables are generally low in calories and rich in water, fibre, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, though their exact nutritional profile varies widely. They are usually prepared as savoury foods, either cooked or raw, and this culinary treatment helps define the category across cultures and traditions, including in Canada.