COCOZELLE

My friend Bobbi came to dinner in 1969 and knowing that she liked Italian food, I had prepared fried zucchini as an appetizer. She exclaimed, "I haven't seen cocozelles since I left California!" I had never heard the term before and she said that where she lived there was a big sign which proclaimed that it was "The Cocozelle Capital Of The World".

From Merriam-Webster: "cocozelle: a small cylindrical dark green summer squash with lighter green to yellow stripes or mottling and firm white to greenish flesh growing over a foot in length and 4-5 inches thick but usually used when half that size. Also called Italian vegetable marrow. Similar to zucchini."

Every time I fix zucchini, I always say "cocozelle" to whomever is nearby, and I have never met anyone else who has known the word cocozelle!