Browsing: causing the population to shy away from the fruit to avoid being viewed as lazy

       Every year as fall approaches we are either intentionally or subconsciously reminded of the harvest. From being bombarded with pumpkin spice flavored coffees, cookies, and cakes to fall festivals and pumpkin patches or even jack-o-lantern decorations there is no argument that the pumpkin is hailed as the fruit of the season! And I know what you’re thinking… “FRUIT???” Yes, you read that right. Pumpkin is a FRUIT! Many people believe that it is a vegetable; however, all members of the squash family are fruit. Vegetables are the edible portion of plants such as leaves, stems, roots, bulbs, flowers, and tubers. Because pumpkins are a product of the seed-bearing structure of a flowering plant; they are classified by botanists as fruit. Considering the popularity of the pumpkin during this time it is hard to separate the thought of it from cornucopias, Pilgrims, Native Americans & “The First Harvest”. The pumpkin’s identity and connection to a particular person and time of year vehemently remind me of another fruit that hosts an identity that unfortunately boasts a much more negative connotation, the watermelon.