a fruit, not a vegetable, eggplant is a member of the nightshade family (as is
the tomato and potato). Thought to have originated in India thousands of years
ago, the Chinese were probably the first to make use of eggplant in a culinary
manner. Widely known throughout Asia, eggplant most likely traveled to Japan in
the 7th or 8th century A.D. (though it was not eaten by the general populace
until a thousand years later). Eggplant appeared in the Mediterranean from
about the 9th century A.D. carried there by Arab caravans. Eggplant spread to
medieval Europe a bit later with the Moors. Botanist, and third President of
the United States (1801-1809), Thomas Jefferson is credited with bringing
eggplant to America where it was primarily an ornamental plant until the 20th
century. Early varieties of eggplant were smaller and white, resembling eggs,
hence the name in English.
Japanese living in and around Tokyo call eggplant, nasu while In the Kansai area (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe) you are more likely to hear eggplant being called nasubi. The word probably derived from NATSU MI, which can be written either as "summer flavor" (the first set of calligraphy below) or as "summer seed " or "fruit” (the second set of calligraphy below).