FACT OR FICTION? Olives are a fruit.Vegetable: According to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary a vegetable is usually defined as the edible part of any plant "whose fruit, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, leaves, or flower parts are used as food".

Fruit: While fruit can refer to "any product of plant growth useful to humans or animals", the more specific definition is the "edible part of a plant developed from a flower, with any accessory tissues". Using this more specific definition all fruits are considered vegetables but not all vegetables are fruit. Olives, plums, tomatoes, artichokes and cucumbers are fruit. Lettuce, potatoes, celery and beets are not reproductive parts of the plant developed from flowers so are considered vegetables.

