I’m assuming that just about 100% have eaten some corn, or potatoes, or onions, or a carrot or a yam. But it doesn’t matter what my guess is because the same survey states that 91% have eaten corn, meaning that the number who have never eaten a vegetable could be no higher than 9%!
Assuming that the survey was conducted by a pro-veggie group, it seems pretty safe to assume that a vegan diet does not improve one’s math skills.
I agree with Scooby’s conclusion, but note that “vegetable” has nothing to do with botany.
Vegetable is a culinary term.
Its definition has no scientific value and is somewhat arbitrary and subjective.
All parts of herbaceous plants eaten as food by humans, whole or in part, are generally considered vegetables.
Mushrooms, though belonging to the biological kingdom, fungi, are also commonly considered vegetables.
Since “vegetable” is not a botanical term, there is no contradiction in referring to a plant part as a fruit while also being considered a vegetable.
Given this general rule of thumb, vegetables can include leaves (lettuce), stems (asparagus), roots (carrots), flowers (broccoli), bulbs (garlic), seeds (peas and beans) and of course the botanical fruits like cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and capsicums.
Vegetables contain water soluble vitamins like vitamin B and vitamin C, fat-soluble vitamins including vitamin A and vitamin D, and also contain carbohydrates and minerals.
There’s good cause for confusion.
I was going to comment about mushrooms. Basically, “vegetable” is the broadest definition of edible plants.
If you do read the article, the only conclusion is that a lot of americans are really confused about what is (or is not) a vegetable 🙂
Totally accurate! That was not their conclusion, but it is certainly a correct one.
Well, corn is considered a grain, and potatoes, onions, and carrots are classified as something else. Just as tomatoes are considered fruits. So…
Nope. Not accurate.
“A vegetable is the edible portion of a plant. Vegetables are usually grouped according to the portion of the plant that is eaten such as leaves (lettuce), stem (celery), roots (carrot), tubers (potato), bulbs (onion) and flowers (broccoli).”
They are all different types of vegetables. The term “tuber” and “vegetable” are not mutually exclusive. Tubers are a type of vegetable.
Legumes are also a form of vegetable.
Biologically, a tomato is both a fruit and a vegetable.
Corn is actually a vegetable, a grain, and a fruit. “Whole corn, like you eat on the cob, is considered a vegetable. The corn kernel itself (where popcorn comes from) is considered a grain. To be more specific, this form of corn is a “whole” grain. To complicate things a little more, many grains including popcorn are considered to be a fruit. This is because they come from the seed or flower part of the plant.”
It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find an American who has never eaten a vegetable. No french fries? No sweet corn? No yams? No onions on a burger? Even if they have eaten ketchup, they have consumed a vegetable.
But even if you disagree with all of that, the point is that the survey itself considers all of those to be vegetables (they have a list). They say 91% have eaten corn, they say corn is a vegetable, and they say 25% have never eaten vegetables. It is not possible for all of those things to be true simultaneously.
This is an actual verbatim quote from the article: “The most popular vegetable in America is — corn! That’s according to a survey of 2,000 Americans who were asked which vegetables they liked and disliked the most. However, it turns out the most surprising result of the study may be that a staggering number of adults haven’t eaten any vegetables their entire lives. Overall, a whopping 91.4% of respondents enjoy eating corn.”