My first exposure to eggplant was in a dish a vegetarian roommate prepared.  The eggplant was neither tasty nor not tasty; it was just sort of there.  I ate it, but decided that eggplant probably wasn’t my thing.

A few years later at a work lunch, one of my coworkers ordered eggplant parmigiana.  When the food came and he saw me eyeing his food (it didn’t look very vegetarian, he appeared to have a breaded chicken breast sitting on his plate!), he offered me a taste.  Not wanting to offend, but not looking forward to it, I accepted his offer.  And I was surprised at how good it actually was!  I guess the secret to preparing eggplant is breading it, deep-frying it, then smothering it in tomato sauce.

So thanks, Morley.  I never knew what I was missing out on.  🙂