Title: Vegetable Content: thumb|right|A sweet potato with one slice cut off. thumb|right|Spinach Vegetables are parts of plants that are eaten by humans as food as part of a meal. This meaning is often used: it is applied to plants to mean all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, leaves, roots, and seeds.Harper, Douglas. Vegetable. Online Etymology DictionaryDictionary.com: Vegetable Carrots and potatoes are parts of the root of the plants, but since they are eaten by humans, they are vegetables. They are not in the same category as a fruit, nut, herb, spice, or grain. Tomatoes are often thought of as vegetables, but because they have seeds, they are, botanically, fruits. Vegetables are an important part of people's diet. Vegetables and fruits are sometimes called produce. Vegetables have vitamins A, B, C, D, minerals and carbohydrates. The USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends eating five to nine servings of fruit and vegetables everyday. The total amount eaten varies depending on age and gender. ==Etymology== The word vegetable was first recorded in English in the early 15th century. It comes from Old French. It is gotten from Medieval Latin vegetabilis "growing, flourishing" (i.e. of a plant). The meaning of "vegetable" as a "plant grown for food" was not accepted until the 18th century. The year 1955 saw the first use of the slang term "veggie". ==Terminology== The word "vegetable" can also be used to mean plants in general, such as when people say "Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral." However, in an Asian context, 'vegetable' may mean any plant produce, apart from grain and nuts, that is eaten cooked, while only the fruits eaten raw are considered as 'fruits'. For example, an artichoke is thought to be a vegetable, while a melon has the features of a fruit. "Fruit" has a botanical meaning. Peaches, plums, and oranges are known as "fruits". Many plants commonly called "vegetables", such as eggplants, bell peppers, and tomatoes, are fruits in botany. The question of is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable was asked in the United States Supreme Court in 1893. The court ruled that a tomato is, and thus taxed as, a vegetable. This was for the Tariff of 1883 on imported produce. But the court knew that a tomato is a fruit in botany. ==History== Before agriculture, humans were hunter-gatherers. They looked for fruit, nuts, stems, leaves, corms, and tubers, scavenged for dead animals and hunted living ones for food. Growing crops in a forest clearing is thought to be the first example of agriculture. Useful types of plant were grown while unwanted plants were removed. Plant breeding through the selection of plant with wanted characteristics such as large fruit and fast growth soon started. It is likely that many people around the world started growing crops in the period 10,000 BC to 7,000 BC. Subsistence agriculture was the earliest form of agriculture. It involves the growing of crops by people to produce enough food for their families. Anything left is used for exchange for other goods. Throughout history, the rich have been able to afford different kinds of food including meat, vegetables and fruit. But for poor people, the food they ate was very dull. It is usually made up of mainly some staple product made from rice, rye, barley, wheat, millet or maize. The addition of vegetable gave some variety to the diet. == Some common vegetables ==