Is Eggplant A Fruit Or A Vegetable?
If you’re planning to whip up eggplant parm or baba ghanoush tonight, you might be surprised to learn that the star ingredient isn’t actually a vegetable at all—it’s a fruit.
More specifically, it’s a berry!
That’s right. Botanically speaking, fruits grow from the flower of a plant and contain seeds, while vegetables come from other parts—like the roots, stems, or leaves. Since eggplants form from blossoms and carry seeds, they officially count as fruits, right alongside cucumbers, melons, and even pumpkins.
The eggplant’s story gets even more interesting when you look at its many names. Here in the US, we call it “eggplant” because the first varieties brought over were small, white, and shaped like eggs. In Britain, it’s known as “aubergine”—a name borrowed from the French, which in turn came from the Arabic al-badinjan. Travel to India and you’ll hear it called brinjal. Quite the world traveler, this purple berry.
Though it’s a fruit by definition, the eggplant still earns its place in our vegetable recipes. We fry, grill, roast, and mash it into dishes like ratatouille, moussaka, and everyone’s favorite dip, baba ghanoush. Nutritionally, it’s a powerhouse, too—rich in fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins like K and C, plus a bit of manganese and folate for good measure.
So whether you slice it, bake it, or air-fry it, you can rest assured that your “vegetable” dinner is secretly a fruit feast in disguise. How’s that for food trivia?
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