There are vegetables nearly everyone likes. And then there is eggplant. One of the most universally hated veggies, eggplant has several qualities that work against it: bitterness, spongy texture, alien look.
Christina Nunez, in a Kitchen Window piece on NPR, wants us to rethink our feelings toward this shiny and misunderstood ingredient.
In “Making Over the Much-Maligned Eggplant,” she reviews the controversies: refrigerate or keep on the counter? Salt or don’t salt? Peel?
Her primer ends up with recipes, of course, including the unusual sounding eggplant with avocado cream.
Nunez did omit one element in her article. No piece on eggplant is really complete without retelling the story of the fainting imam and his new bride.
I’m Greek so of course I LOVE eggplant. Nothing beats a delicious mousaka, baba ganoush, briam, battered & fried eggplant slices with tzatziki sauce? Yes I will admit it can be an aquired taste, but once it’s acquired…you’ll never regret it! I can’t get past okra for texture and taste!
Hmmm- I love eggplant and okra both! Probably because I’ been eating it since I was a little kid, before I knew other people didn’t like it, you know how that goes.
I don’t like milk chocolate or apple pie, so call me a weirdo- I don’t care. :-)
I love eggplant! It is a dieter’s dream and it’s negatives are minor and it has tofu (yuck!!!) beat all over with a stick! My favorite is eggplant parmaggiano (sp?) Even as little children, my kids liked it because eggplant adds no taste to the dish. I love fried eggplant, too… is that a Southern thing? Did you know that it is almost all fiber and has less than 100 calories for a whole medium plant?!
I hated eggplant with a passion until I went to Greece and tasted it done right (makes all the difference in the world). Now I’m a huge fan.