MELANZANA -- AUBERGINE -- EGGPLANT

It's a downer to be a paparazzo on a river bank one day and grounded at home the next, but there you go, I have to stay at home today. What to blip, what to blip? I was out watering the veggies I'm growing in pots, safe from marauding porcupines, when I realised that this veggie is a very beautiful thing, indeed.

Italians call it melanzana, the British and French call it aubergine and Americans, Australians and New Zealanders call it eggplant.

It is native to India but has been cultivated elsewhere since prehistory. Italy didn't get to know the plant until around 1500. The reason Americans call it eggplant is because the early European variety was yellow or white and looked like goose or chicken eggs.

It's a member of the nightshade family along with tomatoes, potatoes and tobacco. Botanically, it is a berry because it contains numerous small, soft seeds. Tomatoes are berries, too.

That's enough information to digest on a Saturday. Tonight, I'm making a Turkish dish using a striped variety, not the baby one shown in this pic. The recipe is from Claudia Roden's book, "A Book of Middle Eastern Food." It's called Imam Bayildi or "The Imam Fainted." I presume he fainted because it is so delicious or, as some say, because his wife used so much expensive olive oil.

It is basically stuffed melanzane baked, covered in water, for about an hour. It's a bit hot for the oven today but the dish is eaten cold. There are recipes for it on the Internet.