Original photo by Olivie Strauss/ Unsplash+
You may wonder how a long, purple fruit came to be called an “eggplant.” It all has to do with a specific popular variety from the 18th century known for its egglike color and circular shape. Eggplants were domesticated in the Indo-Burma region as early as 300 BCE and were called vatingana — a Sanskrit word derived from vani, meaning “wind.” During the British occupation of India, English horticulturist John Abercrombie took note of a particularly common local cultivar that looked white and spherical, much like a typical bird’s egg. In 1767, he wrote about this “egg-plant” in the book Every Man His Own Gardener, denoting the first use of the term in English literature.
Oops, incorrect!
It's a factWhile China is the biggest global exporter of eggplants, New Jersey harvests the most of any U.S. state. According to a 2019 report by New Jersey’s Department of Agriculture, the state harvests an annual average of 849 acres of eggplant, ahead of California’s average of 705 acres each year.
While these white, circular eggplants have since fallen out of fashion, similar varieties including the Easter eggplant are still grown. But in general, the most widely grown type of eggplant is known for its dark purple color and elongated shape. It wasn’t until the early 19th century that a shift to this variety took place in the United States, when new eggplant seeds were brought over by immigrants from various parts of Asia. In time, those colorful eggplant varieties came to displace the once-standard pale, ovate type.
Despite the fruit’s change in appearance, the original nomenclature stuck in the United States and Canada. However, other areas have coined names of their own. In the United Kingdom, the fruit is known as an “aubergine” (a French loanword). A brightly colored variant is referred to as a “garden egg” throughout parts of Africa and the Caribbean. And around the 16th century, eggplants were also briefly called “mad apples” in Europe, a name inspired by the fact that they’re members of the nightshade family and thus were once believed to be poisonous if eaten.
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Eggplants contain trace amounts of nicotine.
The Caesar salad wasn’t named after Julius Caesar.
It’s a common misconception that the Caesar salad was named after Roman statesman Julius Caesar. In reality, it was named for Italian American restaurateur Caesar Cardini. After Prohibition became law in the United States in 1920, the California-based Cardini decided to open a new restaurant across the border in Tijuana, Mexico, so he could legally serve alcohol. But it wasn’t the booze that kept people coming back — it was the salad he became known for. While the exact origin of the dish is debated, there are some theories. According to his daughter, Rosa, the salad was improvised on a busy Fourth of July weekend when the restaurant ran out of various ingredients. The one thing we know for sure is that Cardini claimed credit for the recipe, and in 1938, he moved back to Los Angeles and opened a shop to sell bottles of his beloved namesake salad dressing.
Bennett Kleinman is a New York City-based staff writer for Optimism Media, and previously contributed to television programs such as "Late Show With David Letterman" and "Impractical Jokers." Bennett is also a devoted New York Yankees and New Jersey Devils fan, and thinks plain seltzer is the best drink ever invented.
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