Yes thank you. And what is a legume exactly? As members of the family fabacaea legumes include peanuts, clover, peas, green beans, and lupine. What do you notice of that group? One is clearly a nut, or is it? Two are unquestionably vegetable. And what about lupine? Is clover a nut a vegetable or a flower?

Yes beans are legumes. And carrots are “tubers”. Bananas are technically a grain. What about eggplant? It’s a “nightshade” but it’s a vegetable right? Or is it a fruit?

I love when people say beans are legumes and therefore not vegetables. It leads to such an interesting conversation. Many things aren’t as they seem. Some words are used botanically like “fabacaea” while some are strictly culinary like “vegetable”. The word “fruit” is interesting because it’s both! We all know that eggplant is not a fruit and yet it is!

What is a vegetable? Well it’s really up to us to decide. We usually mean ANY part of a plant that can be eaten and usually we mean low in sugar. Beans are part of a plant. They are seeds of a legume just like peas. They are eaten with shells on as green beans but can be eaten fresh without shells like fava beans. Not vegetables? Think again!