Do you think corn is a vegetable?

[Aurora63]

My deep thought of the day...

I do, but it's very starchy/grainy. Some people think of it as a grain, not a veggie. What do you think?

 

[Kermit]

I can't vote because my answer is that it depends. If I were growing it in a garden, then I'd consider it to be a vegetable. Nutritionally, I consider it a grain.

I guess my answer is no because I almost exclusively serve it as a grain. I make bread with corn meal, and I put it in dishes with beans to make a complete protein. I very rarely serve cooked corn all by itself like you serve green beans or carrots.

 

[DVCLiz]

Corn is considered a starchy vegetable by both the American Diatetic Association and Weight Watchers. In other words, it's a veggie, but not a "free" one like green beans or lettuce (sad to say, since I am a big corn lover!) If you are going to use it in an eating plan, it has to be "counted" as a starch serving.

 

[meandtheguys2]

I consider it to be a grain. The charts have been adapted, because we treat it like a veggie.

 

[alliecats]

I used to consider it a veggie! But my biology teacher in college (which was pretty recently) said it was a fruit, because it has seeds. He said a lot of things we consider veggies are actually fruits, like squash, eggplant, tomatoes, avocados, zucchini, cucumbers, etc! Blew my mind. Carrots are one of the few vegetables he didn't challenge.

BTW, not interested in debating this because who the heck knows where he got it, just repeating what he said!

 

[imsorry]

I always thought of it as a vegetable...let's ask George:

 

[nativetxn]

I think that corn is a vegetable and I love it

 

[antsss]

I think of it as a "bread" from my old Weight Watcher days...kind of like peas!

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I voted no, because I don't serve it as a vegetable.

 

[bicker]

Corn is, indeed, a grain.

 

[jx3smom]

I love corn and have always thought of it as a vegetable.

 

[Sheree Bobbins]

That's the first I've ever heard that corn is a grain!

 

[we3disneygo]

according to my mother it is NOT a veggie....

 

[bicker]

More specifically, it is the seed of a grass, just like its botanical siblings wheat, rice, and rye.

 

[lulugirl]

Grain

 

[Pop Daddy]

yes, but Im a Regan man, who believes ketchup is also

 

[N.Bailey]

yes, but Im a Regan man, who believes ketchup is also

I do think you realize that Reagan never said that. Too funny!

I always heard that corn has no nutritional value, so I voted no. I don't know how true that is. Maybe I'll research it tomorrow to see if that's accurate.

BTW, I LOVE ketchup and couldn't live without it. Corn I could live without!

 

[bicker]

Corn surely has nutritional value. It simply doesn't have the specific nutritional value of vegetables, i.e., various phytochemicals which are available from few if any sources other than vegetables. The category of "vegetables" is so diverse, that different vegetables provide radically different nutritional benefits.

Corn, specifically, is a high calorie nutritional source, for the money and for the amount of cultivated land it takes to grow it. This is a good thing for much of the world, where food is expensive, and cultivatable land is scarce. That characteristic, though, is probably not such a good characteristic, on the average, in the context of a nation like the United States, where a vast majority of people are overweight and there is an abundance of cultivable land.

However, corn also provides a substantial amount of protein, far more than vegetables, and far more per acre of cultivated land than most any other protein source, other than soybeans and other grains. That's really the key differentiator, from a nutritional standpoint, between vegetables and things that we often associate with vegetables, such as grains and legumes. The latter group have substantial amounts of protein, while vegetables do not.