Peas are tiny round green vegetables that grow in pods. They are commonly eaten as a side dish, but are also used in soups and stews.
Peas are called legumes, however this does not apply to the individual peas. Actually, the entire pea pod is botanically a legume, which is a type of botanical fruit. This term can also be used to refer to the family of plants bearing such pod fruits. However, it doesn’t refer to the contents of the pod. The peas in the pod are actually the seeds of the plant.
However, culinarily, peas are considered a vegetable. They cannot be culinary fruits if they aren’t fruits botanically. Besides this, they are not sweet and are instead commonly eaten as a side dish for savory foods, and they are not usually eaten raw. They are also used in soups and stews, which are considered vegetable dishes.
For similar reasons, they’re not culinary seeds. They are not dried before being eaten, and they’re not crunchy. They’re not typically eaten as a snack, and they don’t have a “nutty” taste. They’re eaten cooked with other foods, and have a vegetable-like taste. This makes them vegetables.