Let’s talk about corn. Every little kernel is a fruit (a grain, technically a caryopsis). But we call the whole cob a vegetable. So corn is a fruit that thinks it’s a grain that acts like a vegetable. It’s the drag queen of the produce aisle.
Then there’s olives. Yes, they are fruits (drupes, like peaches). But try eating one off the tree; it’s so bitter you’ll cry. We have to brine them for months to make them edible, which is basically horticultural hazing. Only after that can we legally call them a “vegetable” on a pizza.
And don’t forget peas. The pod is a fruit, but the little green balls inside are seeds. So you’re eating a fruit’s womb when you eat snap peas. Sorry to turn your dinner into a biology lesson, but it’s true. Yummy, fibrous wombs.
