The tomato is technically a berry and thus a fruit, despite an 1893 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared it is a vegetable. (John Nix, an iimporter of West Indies tomatoes, had brought suit to lift a 10 percent tariff, mandated by Congress, on imported vegetables. Nix argued that the tomato is a fruit. The Court held that since a tomato was consumed as a vegetable rather than as a dessert like fruit, it was a vegetable.) “Best Bite of Summer,” by Denise Grady, July 1997.