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Here is one more food word I collected in Costa Rica:

sobadito

In my notes I have only written that it has some connection with food. It's from about five years ago so I don't recall anything more. I have checked that it's not in the DRAE, Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Larousse Gran Diccionario, Google Translate, etc. It does get Google hits but many seem to be people's nicknames. Nothing else stands out.

Does anybody know what "sobadito" is?

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  • It's possible that you mean "sobao"?
    – Laura
    Commented Nov 22, 2011 at 21:21
  • Where have you seen it?? Maybe it's the diminutive of '[sobao][1]', but it's a type of bread typical from Spain, so I'm not sure if 'sobadito' is referring to it. [1]: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobao
    – elboletaire
    Commented Nov 22, 2011 at 21:22
  • I don't think so. "Sobao" looks more unusual to me so I woul've collected that for sure if I'd seen it. It is however possible that it could be a variant or diminutive. What does "sobao" mean? Is it costarriquense?
    – hippietrail
    Commented Nov 22, 2011 at 21:22
  • @ElBoletaireUnderave: As mentioned in the question I collected this word in Costa Rica, not in Spain \-:
    – hippietrail
    Commented Nov 22, 2011 at 21:25
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    If you search for both "sobao" and "sobadito", you get some interesting results such as: "El tenientismo que más recientemente aprendí es el sobaí­to (sobadito, para los más puristas). Se usa como diminutivo de sobao, y pensé que era usado en forma despectiva, pero me equivocaba. El sobao, según mi viejo, es aquel al que le andan pegando siempre (que le soban el cuero); yo había entendido que sobao era el que pasaba borracho siempre. Pues bien, no: el sobaí­to tenientino es como decir ganchito, socito, viejito."
    – Jon Ericson
    Commented Nov 22, 2011 at 22:40

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I google searched "sobadito comida" (please hold the easy jokes:P)and all the results I found refered both to "sobaos" and others refered to "bizcohos de soletilla" or "Melindros" but people called them sobaditos in some reciepes.

Sobaos

bizcochos

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  • Indeed food words vary greatly as they move around, sometimes little by little, sometimes by leaps and bounds. Both their sounds and their meanings are slippery. That's what I love about them (-:
    – hippietrail
    Commented Nov 23, 2011 at 8:34
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'Sobar' is used also as "to knead".

So a "sobadito" could means a biscuit of dough well kneaded.

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Looks like its derived from "sobado" ("well-worn", "shabby") by adding the diminutive suffix -ito. I don't think you can really express it in English exactly, and the particular meaning of the diminutive may depend on the content (e.g. "a bit shabby" seems to be a possibility).

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  • As a clarification: I propose that it could have been used as an adjective describing the quality of food, not a particular food.
    – Ivan Tarasov
    Commented Nov 22, 2011 at 23:17
  • I'm pretty sure it will be a particular food. There were lots of foods in Mexico and Central America with funny names. My favourite was one in Panama called "ropa vieja". In fact it was one of my favourite Panamanian foods as well as one of my favourite food words in the Spanish language. And having eating it several times I can say it's definitely not the literal meaning (-:
    – hippietrail
    Commented Nov 22, 2011 at 23:20
  • There are a couple of Google hits I've found with "sobadito" used in connection with food. The best one is of a kind of ceviche, but nothing is really conclusive.
    – hippietrail
    Commented Nov 22, 2011 at 23:24
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Could you be referring to a 'sudado de mariscos' which is a kind of a soup but thicker? Your word may be a diminutive of this.

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