On
May 10, 1893
, the Supreme Court ruled that
the tomato was a vegetable, not a fruit. Their ruling was in
light of a 10-year-old piece of legislation called the Tariff
Act of 1883, which ruled that a 10 percent tax had to be paid
on all imported vegetables. The case, known as Nix vs. Hedden,
was filed by John Nix and several other tomato importers
against Edward Hedden, the Collector of Customs at the
Port
of
New York
. The case wound up in the
Supreme Court, where Webster’s Dictionary was heavily cited.
The plaintiffs argued that according to the dictionary
definition of fruit — the structure that grows from the
flower of the plant and holds the seeds — a tomato was a
fruit. They called two witnesses, both of whom heard the
definitions of "fruit" and "vegetable" out
of the dictionary and were asked whether those definitions
were any different in the world of trade and commerce. Both
talked for a while but said no, the definitions were no
different. The counsel for the plaintiff then read the
definition of tomato.
Each
side then proceeded to read a series of Webster’s Dictionary
definitions. The counsel for the defense read "egg
plant," "squash," "pepper," and
"cucumber" — all of which, like tomato, are fruits
in the botanical sense — but which are widely considered
vegetables. In response, the counsel for the plaintiff read
the definitions of "potato," "turnip,"
"parsnip," "cauliflower,"
"cabbage," and "carrot," none of them
botanical fruits but all considered vegetables.
Justice
Gray delivered the opinion of the Court, and he said:
"Botanically speaking, tomatoes are the fruit of a vine,
just as are cucumbers, squashes, beans, and peas. But in the
common language of the people, whether sellers or consumers of
provisions, all these are vegetables which are grown in
kitchen gardens, and which, whether eaten cooked or raw, are,
like potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets, cauliflower,
cabbage, celery, and lettuce, usually served at dinner in,
with, or after the soup, fish, or meats which constitute the
principal part of the repast, and not, like fruits generally,
as dessert."
Nix
v. Hedden has been referenced in numerous cases since,
including a 1990 Second Circuit Court of Appeals case about a
delay in a tomato shipment. The judge wrote: "In common
parlance tomatoes are vegetables, as the Supreme Court
observed long ago, see Nix v. Hedden, although botanically
speaking they are actually a fruit. Regardless of
classification, people have been enjoying tomatoes for
centuries, even Mr. Pickwick, as Dickens relates, ate his
chops in ‘tomata’ sauce."
The
debate has continued, but the problem is that
"vegetable" has no actual scientific or botanical
definition — it is a culinary term. In 1987, the state of
Arkansas
designated the Vine Ripe Pink
Tomato as their official state fruit and vegetable.
Tomatoes
were slow to catch on in the United States — in 1845, the
editor of the Boston Courier wrote that tomatoes were
"the mere fungus of an offensive plant, which one cannot
touch without an immediate application of soap and water with
an infusion of eau de cologne ... deliver us, O ye caterers of
luxuries, ye gods and goddesses of the science of cookery!
deliver us from tomatoes!" This opinion was echoed over
and over again by journalists, agricultural experts, farmers,
and gardeners across the country.
-- The Writer’s Almanac
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