Description

In everyday usage, a vegetable is any part ofaplant that is consumed by humans as food as part of a savorymeal.The term vegetable is somewhat arbitrary, and largelydefinedthrough culinary and cultural tradition. It normallyexcludes otherfood derived from plants such as fruits, nuts andcereal grains,but includes seeds such as pulses. The originalmeaning of the wordvegetable, still used in biology, was todescribe all types ofplant, as in the terms "vegetable kingdom" and"vegetablematter".