I really hope I don't have broccoli for dinner, I hate broccoli! I just want to eat fruits!

Alex was playing outside one day with Meredith and thought about what his family would have for dinner. He doesn't usually like the vegetables but his parents said they would try something new tonight!

I love eating fruits with my dinner! My mom makes a fancy salad with avocado in it all the time!

What kind of fruit does your mom use to make it? I thought a salad only had vegetables in it?

Alex looked confused. He never heard of a salad with something other than vegetables in it, and he thought an avocado was a vegetable.

Well, my mom puts avocado in it and I really like that fruit. Sometimes I eat it on my toast or with chips!

I thought avocados were vegetables? They're green so they must be a vegetable.

Meredith just learned about fruits and vegetables from her mother the day before. She was so excited to tell Alex everything she knew about how to tell the difference from a fruit and vegetable.

Actually, an avocado is a fruit because it has a seed inside of it and grows from a plant that starts as a flower!

Wow Meredith! I didn't know that. Do you know what makes a vegetable a vegetable?

Alex was surprised to find out it wasn't just the color of a fruit or vegetable that made it that, and it had to do with how they grew.

Actually, I do. Vegetables grow from the leaves, roots, bulbs and stems of plants so they don't grow from being a flower.

Oh okay. Do you know what broccoli grows from? I don't really like broccoli I think it looks like tiny trees.

I think my mom said it comes from a flower bud or stem. Aren't vegetables cool? They grow from the earth in different parts of plants to make different kinds of food!

At that point, Alex's mother was calling him in for dinner and offered Meredith to join.

Come have dinner with us Meredith, you can teach my family about fruits and vegetables!