Italian Pickled Eggplant

Question

I am of Italian-American descent and Italian was unfortunately not passed down through the generations. However, there are certain recipes that we still make that came from the first generation that moved to America. Of these recipes, there is one consisting of pickled eggplants with hot peppers and various spices and vinegar. No one in my family knows the spelling, but they have referred to it (phonetically) as something akin to "boo bad". I would like to find what the actual spelling/name of this recipe might be and perhaps whether the name is widely know or if it is regional.

Answer 1

The Pickled Eggplant is an Italian recipe, usually Sicilian or Neapolitan.

Its name in Italian is Melanzane sott'olio , literally Eggplant under oil.

I don't know if a particular, maybe regional, name exists, that can sound like boo bad.

But I am from Naples, and the Melanzane sott'olio are very common, and I've never heard a name similar to boo bad. I don't know Sicilian, but I have Sicilian relatives, never heard a similar name or other name.

The only possibility that came to mind is that boo bad, or something similar, comes from the Neapolitan name ‘o buccaccio ‘e mulignane sott'uoglio. It is very common.

And it is plausible that boo bad can be a tranformation of buccaccio.

The phrase means, in Italian, il barattolo di melanzane sott'olio, which in English means the jar of piggled eggplant.

See

https://cucinadinapoli.altervista.org/melanzane-sottolio-obuccaccio-mulignane/

Answer 2

I believe your relatives were talking about 'mpupata — sandwich stuffing made of pickled eggplants and anchovies, which is the specialty of the province of Salerno in Campania.

To the American ear, it would sound as "boo-bahd" indeed.