Vegetable stock this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. For the diet that abstains from animal products and consists mostly of plants, see Veganism.

For a vegetarian diet, see Vegetarianism. Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. Originally, vegetables were collected from the wild by hunter-gatherers and entered cultivation in several parts of the world, probably during the period 10,000 BC to 7,000 BC, when a new agricultural way of life developed. Vegetables can be eaten either raw or cooked and play an important role in human nutrition, being mostly low in fat and carbohydrates, but high in vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. Many nutritionists encourage people to consume plenty of fruit and vegetables, five or more portions a day often being recommended.

The word vegetable was first recorded in English in the early 15th century. The meaning of “vegetable” as a “plant grown for food” was not established until the 18th century. In 1767, the word was specifically used to mean a “plant cultivated for food, an edible herb or root”. The year 1955 saw the first use of the shortened, slang term “veggie”. As an adjective, the word vegetable is used in scientific and technical contexts with a different and much broader meaning, namely of “related to plants” in general, edible or not—as in vegetable matter, vegetable kingdom, vegetable origin, etc. The exact definition of “vegetable” may vary simply because of the many parts of a plant consumed as food worldwide—roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds.

The broadest definition is the word’s use adjectivally to mean “matter of plant origin”. In the latter-mentioned definition of “vegetable”, which is used in everyday language, the words “fruit” and “vegetable” are mutually exclusive. Fruit” has a precise botanical meaning, being a part that developed from the ovary of a flowering plant. This is considerably different from the word’s culinary meaning.