The food you don't expect in fruit and vegetables

Even from elementary school, we are taught to divide foods into fruits and vegetables, identifying the origin of some of them. These are solid culinary certainties that we carry with us into adulthood.

Then you grow up, become curious, and discover strange things you never expected, but which are based on extremely precise elements of botany.

Maybe you've never seen a pistachio tree or don't know why the cinchona tree is called that. Well, this article is for that; to make you say "Nooo, really?!" about things you might not have known.

Peanuts: legumes disguised as nuts

Appetizers, chips, and mini-pizzas, then the waiter brings you peanuts to munch on, perhaps roasted and salted, perfect for accompanying a cool drink.

But there’s a catch: botanically speaking, peanuts are legumes, just like beans, lentils, and peas. Unlike other legumes, peanuts can also be eaten raw, making them unique in their category. This makes them particularly versatile and loved worldwide.

Are you sure you want to know what tomatoes are?

Let's stay in the realm of shocking revelations: tomatoes. We use them in salads, sauces, and gravies, we consider them vegetables, but guess what?

Tomatoes are berries! That's right, just like strawberries and blueberries. Botanically speaking, any fruit that develops from a single flower with a single ovary is a berry. Think about that when you make a tomato salad: behind that bowl is actually a fruit salad!

Fruits and vegetables: the difference is in the detail

And what about pumpkins? We often see them as protagonists of autumn decorations or delicious Halloween recipes, but did you know that, in reality, they are a fruit?

Yes, that's right. The pumpkin, along with zucchini and cucumbers, belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family and develops from the flower, just like a fruit. Bell peppers, eggplants, and cucumbers are also fruits.

The difference between fruits and vegetables is often subtle and based more on our culinary perception than on botany.

Don't you want a nice bunch of broccoli?

The world of food is a real treasure chest of surprises. Think of bananas: did you know that they are giant herbs? And that broccoli are actually flowers? Even almonds, which we love so much, belong to the Rosaceae family, the same as roses.

Every food we put on our plate has an incredible and often unknown history that makes it even more fascinating.

Having fun with food: an inexhaustible source of curiosity

Now that your certainties have crumbled, with what spirit will you bite into your next artichoke? With what certainties will you bring your side dish to the table?

To continue instilling doubts about what you're putting on the table, we recommend a particularly curious podcast: DOI – Denominazione di Origine Inventata (Invented Denomination of Origin) – a truly tasty podcast that tells the true origin of some typical foods and dishes.

Enjoy your meal!