Ana and Eva are both more-or-less vegetarian

[conuly]

Neither of them is 100% on the no-meat front, but they're sincerely trying to cut down on how much of that they eat. (Alas, my mother wants meat at every meal, and while I say "If I can't make everybody happy I'll have to settle for making myself happy instead", in practice I've started trying to alternate meat nights with no-meat nights, with the missing-out party having to eat the sides.) Today we had pasta with vegetables and pancetta, which is great because everybody will eat it and it's easy for me to just serve the kids first and then dump the pancetta in the pot for the rest of us.

Eva, perhaps predictably, ate her pasta, nibbled her peppers, and went to eat an orange. "Why'd you put spinach in this!?"

"Because spinach is good for you. It's got lots of iron, calcium, vitamin c, and fiber. Oh, and potassium too!"
"Blech."
"Well, you know, Eva, vegetarian means you eat vegetables."
"But spinach isn't a vegetable!"
"What?"
"You can't cut it, and anyway, vegetables are more fruity."
"More... fruity?"
"Like bell peppers and cucumbers. They have seeds. Spinach is leaves."

I don't know where she got this interesting idea from either.

Comments

[conuly]

You and Eva are quite literally the only two people I've ever heard express that idea. The usual definition of vegetable is something more like "Any part of a plant or fungus that is habitually eaten fresh, in savory preparations, and is not more commonly considered a grain, herb, or fruit." Which includes all greens, sometimes called "leaf vegetables".

This is cool :)

[mme-n-b.livejournal.com]

Well, that makes two of us - I never knew anyone considered fungi to be vegetables. They aren't even in the same kingdom. And the whole savory preparations thing - do you consider celery a vegetable, but not rhubarb?

For spinach I think you may be running into the last part of your own definition - I'd consider it way closer to an herb than to a vegetable if I had to pick and did not have the "large-leafed greens" category available.

Re: This is cool :)

[conuly]

No, they're not part of the same kingdom, but we're speaking of culinary definitions, not biology - the fact that fungi aren't plants wasn't very well-known when these terms were getting codified. For exhibit A, I give you the food groups. Notice that mushrooms are listed under "fruits and vegetables". They're definitely not a fruit, so that makes them a culinary vegetable. This chart also appears to show mushrooms under the vegetable category.

Spinach can't be an herb, it's not an aromatic. All herbs are vegetables as well but the reverse isn't true. Spinach, kale, cabbage, turnip tops, chard, lettuce - these are all vegetables.

Re: This is cool :)

[mme-n-b.livejournal.com]

And never the twain shall meet. Our definitions are not reconcilable :) So, next time one of us cooks for the other let's go with "fruit" and "other". No meat, because I bet we don't have the same definition there, either ;)

Just read this and couldn't resist: " Anything green that grew out of the mould Was an excellent herb to our fathers of old."

Re: This is cool :)

[conuly]

Wait, do we both eat dead animal flesh?

Re: This is cool :)

[mme-n-b.livejournal.com]

Well, live animal flesh is explicitly not kosher ;)

Re: This is cool :)

[conuly]

All righty! But I'll restrict myself to duck bacon, sounds like.

Re: This is cool :)

[mme-n-b.livejournal.com]

Is that a thing?

Re: This is cool :)

[conuly]

YES. IT IS DELISH.

Re: This is cool :)

[mme-n-b.livejournal.com]

Quest accepted :)