My sister Julia and I sit on the train, each deep in thought. Finally, she breaks the silence, with a question that would prove to engage the conversation for the next four hours of the trip: “Is a carrot a fruit or a vegetable?”
I stare back, incredulously. How could you be so stupid? I want to say.
But before I can open my mouth the woman sitting across from us chimes in, “A carrot can either be a fruit or a vegetable.”
Resisting the urge to make a face, I nod along. “Um, I see how it could be confusing, but surely something couldn’t be both a fruit and a vegetable at the same time.”
“Oh yes, it’s true. Depending on how you look at it.”
I take a stab in the dark. “Maybe depending on how you cook it?”
“Exactly. There are many variables.” She nods and smiles, knowingly. “Many variables.”
I try to convey to Julia through my eyes that this woman must be off her rocker, but she ignores me. “Yes, see!” Julia says, “it’s confusing!”
We had another eight hours on the AMTRAK to kill, so we decided to ask people if they thought the following were fruits or vegetables:
avocado
eggplant
cucumber
tomato
squash
pepper
olive
pumpkin
carrot
celery
lettuce
radish
*The avocados through the pumpkins are all fruits because they have seeds. The rest, which are either the stem, leaf, or root of a plant, are vegetables.
We found that our attempt to pass the time and push the limits of socially acceptable train-ride interactions ended up being an interesting preliminary exploration of how people subconsciously formulate their definitions of fact.
A common theme we noticed was that there was often an inner struggle between what the person felt to be true and what the person had learned to be true.
For example, one man explained that he felt like the eggplant should be a vegetable, but to “stay consistent [with his other answers],” he named it a fruit. This seemed logical, but he was only one of three to have scored close to 100%.
Others explained that they knew the food item was probably a fruit, sometimes saying it was because it had seeds, but they just could not help but answer vegetable.
Many did not report having heard the seed rule at all, and so resorted entirely to their gut for the answers.
But what was it that was influencing their gut? Common answers included that vegetables were:
1) Anything that went into a salad
2) Anything that was in a V8 “vegetable juice”
3) Anything in the “vegetable section” of the grocery store
For the 14 people who failed the test (which, by the way, would have included me), their reality was manipulated by food advertisements (like a V8 Vegetable Juice can), and societal norms (for example, you eat fruits with lunch, and vegetables with dinner).
I am not sure if the lumping of fruits with vegetables is in itself harmful, but the concept sounds a little too familiar to me. What else do I assume I know, but would not even think to question?
