NJ Looks For Vegetable In Fruit

The Garden State makes national headlines today not because of an outed governor, but because NJ is considering naming the tomato the official state vegetable. The bill's co-sponsor, State Senator Ellen Karcher, says, "Botanically, it's a fruit; legally, it's a vegetable," due to an old U.S. Supreme Court ruling that tariffed vegetables, including tomatoes, since tomatoes are usually served during dinner, not as a dessert. Gothamist would shake our head at what the NJ government will do next, but at least the NJ State Legislature is getting stuff done; NY State's is most the dysfunctional in the country. For the record, NJ does has a state fruit: The blueberry. Here are pictures from the 2004 NJ Tomato Festival, and it's never too early to think about summer weekend trips to the Jersey shore. Finally, here are NY State's various state emblems (our state beverage is milk - take that, Dobkin).

And WNBC's Today in New York teased this story right after a segment about NYC pizza, which made us think of Slice.