Is a mushroom a vegetable?

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

As to whether it's a vegetable, I'm not quite so certain of that. IMO, vegetable is purely a culinary term anyway. Most (not all... see carrot... ) of what we call vegetables are actually fruits to a biologist. And a mushroom definitely isn't a fruit.

Ah, but the part of the mushroom we eat is called the fruit of the mushroom. It's true that it is a fungus. But it is a fungus with a web of roots that are hidden underground. With the exception of the truffles, all edible mushrooms are the fruiting part of the organism responsible for spreading the spores, and thus ensuring reproduction of the organism. Fruits are also the part of the plant that spread the species. If I recall, nuts such as walnuts, hazlenuts, macadamia nuts, etc. are actually considered fruits in the world of biology.

And yet, certain fruits, such as the avacado, the tomato, the tomatillo, and even the plantain are considered vegetables.

I believe that mushrooms would be considered a veggie by societal acceptance of the term, as are tomatoes and avacados.

But this is merely an educated argument and has little research done by myself to back it up. So take it with a grain of salt.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Claire]

As someone who tends to think of things in term of how they perform in the kitchen and at the table, I tend to call a mushroom a vegetable ... but then I call a tomato a vegetable. I classify foods the way I cook and serve them, not by biology. For example, Mom taught me to believe that corn and peas are starches. If you put one of them on the table, you still need vegetables (i.e., salad, green beans, spinach, etc) because it's an additional starch and doesn't "fill the square" for vegetables.

 

[Daphne duLibre]

I don't care what you call it. How do you cook with it?

Works great in soups, salads. Porous, absorbent, neutral flavor -- stuff with bleu cheese, top with anchovie, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil . . . About 30 minutes at 350 F.

le voila ! ! ! ANY mushroom.

Impossible to go wrong with anchovie, bleu cheese, and olive oil.