The general term vegetables refers to all plant parts suitable for human consumption (e.g. leaves, fruits, tubers, stems) of herbaceous, wild or cultivated plants that are mainly consumed in a cooked state.1a)
Depending on the type of cultivation, vegetables are categorised as wild or cultivated vegetables, or open-air or greenhouse vegetables. Depending on their cellulose content, a further distinction is made between fine and coarse vegetables.1a) Fine vegetables such as cauliflower, tomatoes, spinach and asparagus have a fine cell wall structure, while coarse vegetables such as cabbage, celery, onions and leeks have a stable cell wall structure.
If vegetables are categorised according to the type of plant parts used, the following categories can be formed:
- Leafy vegetables (spinach, cabbage, chard, lettuce)
- Flowering vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, artichoke)
- Fruit vegetables (tomato, pepper, cucumber, aubergine)
- Root/tuber vegetables (potato, radish, turnip, radish)
- Onion vegetables (onion, garlic, leek)
- Seed vegetables (beans, peas, lentils, sweetcorn)
- Stem/sprout vegetables (kohlrabi, rhubarb, asparagus)1b)
However, it is not always possible to clearly categorise some foods. Tomatoes, for example, belong to the category of fruit vegetables and are eaten cooked as a sauce or soup. However, tomatoes are also eaten raw as a fruit snack or prepared with a dressing as a salad.2)
À propos: With a global production of 186 million tonnes, tomatoes were the most widely grown vegetable crop in 2022, far ahead of onions (including shallots) with 111 million tonnes and cucumbers (including gherkins) with 95 million tonnes. According to the FAO, around 1.17 billion tonnes of vegetables were grown worldwide in 2022. Compared to the year 2000, this represents a 71% increase in vegetable production, whereas the global population only grew by around 29% in the same period.3)4)
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Our next article is about fruit.
References:
1) Rimbach, G., Nagursky, J., Erbersdobler H. F., 2015: Lebensmittel-Warenkunde für Einsteiger, 2. Auflage, a) Page 196, b) Page 197, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, ISBN: 978-3-662-46280-5
2) Lieberei, R., Reisdorff, C., 2012: Nutzpflanzen, 8. überarbeitete Auflage, Page 231, Georg Thieme Verlag KG, Stuttgart, ISBN: 978-3-13-530408-3
3) Cf. FAO, 2023: Agricultural production statistics 2000-2022, FAOSTAT Analytical Brief 79, taken from the internet on 26.06.2024, ISSN 2709-0078 [Online]
4) Cf. United Nations, Population Devision, 2022: World Population Prospects 2022, taken from the internet on 26.06.2024, https://population.un.org/wpp/