Are you crazy for calling mushrooms vegetables? The great debate

Walk into a grocery store and you’ll see Mushrooms stored in the produce section next to root vegetables and leafy greens.  Thus it’s a common misconception that our tasty little sprouts are a type of vegetable.

Mushrooms are often considered to be vegetables, but are they really? Thinking back to biology in high school, you might recall that fungi were in a mysterious category aside from plants, one that scientists haven’t know much about until recent years. The answer, as it turns out, is a bit more complicated than you might think.

First, let's define what a vegetable is. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), a vegetable is "a plant or part of a plant that is consumed by humans, either raw or cooked, as a savory or slightly sweet side dish, main dish, or ingredient in another dish." This definition includes familiar vegetables like tomatoes, onions, and peppers, as well as less common vegetables like okra and artichokes.

So, are mushrooms a part of a plant? Technically, no. Mushrooms are fungi, not plants. On a cellular level plants have something called a cell wall, which is a membrane made of fibers that protect the surface of their cells. This gives plants their rigidity and their high fiber content. Meanwhile, the cellular structure of mushrooms more resembles meat than it does plants. Thus mushrooms have a completely different biological makeup from plants.

Secondly, mushrooms do not photosynthesize to create sugars that the plant uses as fuel. But instead, mushrooms get their sugars directly from organic matter they grow upon, usually old trees and stumps.

Despite this, mushrooms are often treated as vegetables in cooking and dietary guidelines. Even the USDA considers mushrooms to be vegetables because they share many nutritional contents to vegetables. They are low in calories and fat, and they provide a good source of nutrients like vitamin D, selenium, and copper. They are also commonly used in dishes as a replacement for meat due to their high protein content, savory flavor, and meaty texture.

In conclusion, while mushrooms are not plants, for the purposes of cooking and nutrition, they are commonly classified under the food category of vegetables. So yes, mushrooms can be called vegetables!