Melanzana

Aubergines; the French name, which we also use, derives from the Catalan albergínies. Dr Grewe says that these fruits were introduced to Europe by the Arabs, but their consumption was limited for centuries to the Iberian peninsula, Sicily, southern Italy and Greece. This information is underpinned by the presence of four recipes for albergínies in the 14th century manuscript SentSovi, three in Robert de Nola’s Libre del Coch and one in the Neapolitan manuscript called ‘Marignani’. (In connection with this name, it may be of interest to know that the Salentine dialect word for aubergine is marangiana.)