“Vegetables are any plant parts that are not fruits, seeds, or flowers. Vegetable parts include roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, and leaves. Plants want animals to eat their fruits (and interact with their flowers and seeds), but plants need to protect other body parts–their vegetable parts— from predators, so they can survive. I would argue that plants do not want their vegetable parts to be eaten.” -Dr. Georgia Ede
To be fair, nothing really wants to be eaten. Sentient beings make that pretty obvious, as they’re equipped with things like horns, hooves, fists, teeth, venom, quickness, environmental camouflage, dolphins with lasers, etc. Once an animal is dead, their defense mechanisms typically are as well. With things like vegetables and grains that can’t fight or run, their defense mechanisms are hidden within. Plants are just trying to survive, and they’ve been on this planet a lot longer than we have, developing an arsenal of chemical weapons along the way.