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19 October 2006

I don't think I like eggplant. I've always wanted to like it because I love the color and shape of a nice eggplant. I finally got to try it, and I didn't like it. I keep trying it hoping I'll like it and I don't.
Is there anything you really want to like but don't? Do you like eggplant?
post by: agropyron at: 11:41 | 45 comments
≡ Click to see image ≡
So pretty...
posted by agropyron 19 October | 11:43
I *LOVE* eggplant. How did you prepare it? Oh it's soooooo good.

And danostuporstar had eggplant for lunch today!!!

*tries to make thread sticky so no one will miss it*
posted by iconomy 19 October | 11:44
Yes, it's my favorite vegetable actually.

I'd like to like my Dad, but can't.
posted by danostuporstar 19 October | 11:46
It's allll about how you prepare it. It can be gross, slimy, and gloppy, or utterly delicious.

Three good ways:

In baba ganoush
Sliced, marinated in o/o and balsamic, grilled, and eaten on a sandwich with fresh mozz, basil, and tomato
Sliced very thin, breaded and baked crisp, then layered in eggplant parmigiana
posted by Miko 19 October | 11:47
I really can't stand eggplant either. I've had it in Italian dishes, in Asian dishes, in Middle Eastern dishes, and it's always the one thing I want to pick out of the dish. The texture is just... wrong. And I am not a picky eater; the only other thing to which I have a similar aversion is pudding. Which is also a texture issue.

I've been told by multiple people that my disdain for eggplant is simply wrong, that there are ways of preparing it that make it OK, but really, I've had it at really nice restaurants and prepared at home by amazing cooks and I just don't like it.

Though I do have to agree they're one of the prettiest vegetables.
posted by occhiblu 19 October | 11:47
On the other side of the coin, things I'm SURPRISED I like given that I'm rather picky (thus, my list of things I'd like to like would be too long): Squid. Hummus. (Dude, I freakin' love me some hummus.) Spinach.

Oh, well, okay there is one thing I really wished I like because it is in so many yummy things: ricotta cheese. That stuff makes me gag but just about everything it's in looks so delicious.
posted by mike9322 19 October | 11:51
Yeah, occhiblu, I've had it at nice restaurants and prepared by skilled cooks I know. I don't actively dislike it, but I don't particularly enjoy it.
posted by agropyron 19 October | 11:59
Yeah, I'll eat it, it's not like I refuse to even entertain the notion. I just always find it disappointing and vaguely unsettling.
posted by occhiblu 19 October | 12:00
I could take or leave eggplant. I'm a bad Italian, I realize. But I love escarole.
posted by jonmc 19 October | 12:03
mmmmm eggplant parmesan!
posted by eekacat 19 October | 12:04
Yeah, I like eggplant if it's in something else with a lot of other stuff, like eggplant parmesan. Otherwise, not so much.

I've always wanted to like chocolate, so people would stop giving me shit about not liking it, but I can't help it. Damn stuff tastes like dirt.
posted by JanetLand 19 October | 12:06
*gives Janet shit, takes her chocolate*
posted by danostuporstar 19 October | 12:08
I have a similar thing with artichokes, JanetLand. Everyone raves about how great they are and they're a staple of Italian cuisine, but they taste bleh to me and they look like big green pinecones.
posted by jonmc 19 October | 12:10
Eggplant is marvelous chopped up in chili or stew. That way the flavors are all blended and you don't feel like OMG I'm eating eggplantz!! I once had a particularly great vegetarian chili in which eggplant was the main meat-substitute.

In the years since then I have become a devotee of the eggplant parmagiana sandwhich. I buy it planning to eat half and save half, and ALWAYS end up eating the whole thing until I'm nearly sick (but satisfied).
posted by Hermitosis 19 October | 12:11
I went through an eggplant phase at the beginning of the summer. I lllllllloved it, and was very excited about it for about two months. It was just a fling. Now I don't like it anymore.
posted by rainbaby 19 October | 12:16
I don't like it either, and I only came out about it a couple of years ago. I think it took me that long because I like almost everything, and I was a vegetarian for a long time and people seemed to expect me to like eggplant in particular. It's the taste that I don't like.

I do like: babaganoush and Asian eggplant and garlic sauce. I like both of these quite a lot, so there is that mystery.
posted by omiewise 19 October | 12:18
As a vegetarian, eggplant is very often the only option on a menu that I can eat, which is a shame because it's freakin' disgusting. I opt for the salad in those cases and silently (or loudly) vow to be the one to pick the eatery next time.

The worst is when it's prepared in strips. It looks like octopus and tastes like zucchini that's been cooked for an hour too long.
posted by item 19 October | 12:19
I know mudpuppie hates it. I like it okay, but I'm slightly allergic (no surprise, lots of people are, what with it being from the nightshade family and all).

It's true, it's one of those things that has to be cooked right.

I wish I liked going to bed early.
posted by Specklet 19 October | 12:30
I wish I liked wine.
posted by jonmc 19 October | 12:32
I have grown them before when I lived outside of town, my brother and I had several kinds. For a while there were a lot of folks from various parts of the east (Oriental east, not New Yawkers) moving into the area and no Asian food markets or the like. So they sold well. Picking hundreds of them a week for a while. They are really beautiful but I have not yet learned to like eating them.
posted by weretable and the undead chairs 19 October | 12:34
Ah, good one, jon. I wish I liked wine too.
posted by mike9322 19 October | 12:34
Yep, hate the eggplant. I grow them, though, because they're prolific and therefore good for the ego. I'd like to like everything I dislike (except cilantro; I'm standing firm on that one): Squashy things, shellfish (particularly shrimp), ricotta (yay Mike). I'll try them all occasionally to see if my palate has changed. But so far, nope.
posted by mudpuppie 19 October | 12:40
the thing with eggplant (which I luuurve!) is that it takes a lot of butter or oil in order to bring out its taste. Use a lot of garlic too. Eggplant salad is delicious. Other than that, mussaka, fried eggplant, imam bayildi are my very very big favorites. People usually do not complain when I cook them.
posted by carmina 19 October | 12:49
Huh. I forgot about moussaka. I do like that. But not so much eggplant parmigian. Weird.
posted by occhiblu 19 October | 12:51
I don't like eggplant. I can tolerate it fried, but you could bread and deep fry a whole nest of ants in a ball and it'd probably taste good.

I don't like okra, either. Too slimy. Or brussel sprouts. Too... earthy/stinky.

However, I adore brocolli, artichoke, cauliflower, spinach and just about every other veg, root, leaf or legume on the planet. Though I prefer my zuchinni and other such slimy squash barely cooked - either grilled or lightly steamed.

I hate kimchee. To me it smells like the terrible halitosis of someone middle-aged who has never brushed their teeth, ever, and subsisted entirely on very well used gym socks soaked in rancid pepper oil. And then regurgitated it a lot and ate it again. I really, really hate kimchee. :(

Oddly, I love other spicy foods. Like, really spicy. I'll eat Chinese hot horseradish mustard on a corn dog. And I like stinky foods, cheese and yogurt and whatnot. Umami-bitters like Marmite are good. But apparently I don't like spicy-stinky foods.
posted by loquacious 19 October | 12:58
Here are some things I don't like.

Mayonnaise -- ugh, vile jiggly shiny white stuff. Not to be eaten!

Canned tuna -- even the smell of it. Bleah. (Note how often the two items go together).

Ham.
posted by Miko 19 October | 13:07
I have never had kimchee, but that description will make me laugh about it forever.

I forgot about summer squash. I really hate summer squash. I'm good with zucchini, I adore butternut and spaghetti and other hard-sided squashes, but not so much with the summer squash.
posted by occhiblu 19 October | 13:09
I love eggplant--one of my favorite things, really. I taught myself to love cilantro, since it's a part of so many good cuisines. But, try as I might, I cannot stand just about anything from the squash family. I've tried just about everything, from baked to soups to grilled to candied, even, and I just can't eat it. Sweet potatoes, zuchinni, pumpkin, nothing. Fried squash is OK, but I'd just as soon have something else. I actually wonder if it's some sort of allergy, since I'll eat just about anything else.
posted by mrmoonpie 19 October | 13:13
Oh, and the MrsMoonPie won't eat uncooked cheese. Some of the softer ones are ok, but don't give her any cheese that can be sliced. Once it's cooked, no problem--I guess it's the texture. Our tastes are so well aligned otherwise that I often forget this one.
posted by mrmoonpie 19 October | 13:15
How funny. Eggplant is so non-descript that I can't imagine having an opinion one way or the other.

The only things I really don't like are mushrooms, lamb and most Chinese food.
posted by jrossi4r 19 October | 13:16
I don't like eggplant either, no matter how it's cooked. I can have a few bites of moussaka or the crispy eggplant from Snappy Dragon (chinese restaurant - it's kind of eggplant done up in General Tso's Chicken style with massive breading and goopy sweet orange-colored sauce), but I'd rather have something else.
posted by matildaben 19 October | 13:18
loq, I don't like okra unless it is fried. Then... heaven!
posted by weretable and the undead chairs 19 October | 13:28
oh man, Miko, I TOTALLY hate canned tuna. People will eat it at work, and when they open the can I lose my appetite and want to hurl. Man that stuff stinks. Now fresh tuna on the other hand is wonderful, and I love tuna sushi or sashimi, but canned tuna should not exist.
posted by eekacat 19 October | 13:35
I would rather kill every single living thing in the universe than eat eggplant. It's not so much a vegetable as a large purple pod of snot.
posted by Divine_Wino 19 October | 13:37
Oh, god do I love mushrooms. Big fat spicy ones. (Portabello, shitake...) Wrinkly little ones. (Morels, zomg!!) Sprightly little delicate bean-sprout ones. (enoki! (sp?)). Dusty flabby ones! (puffball sauteed in garlic butter!) And even plain white ones.

MUSHROOMS = FUCKING GOOD. KIMCHEE = SATANS OWN BOILED ASSHOLE!
posted by loquacious 19 October | 13:38
I loathe sushi, even vegetarian sushi. The fish one makes me heave.

But I like canned tuna.
posted by essexjan 19 October | 13:46
[buys "purple pod of snot" as a sockpuppet on MeFi]
posted by JanetLand 19 October | 13:50
I LOVE sushi. I just remembered I'm going out for sushi tonight, a fact I had managed to forget for several days. I'm so pleasantly reminded!

Yaaaaay sushi!

I'm realizing that there's nothing I don't like to eat, except organ meats.
posted by Specklet 19 October | 14:46
I love and will eat just about everything, particularly eggplant in any variation. Yum eggplant! I never get to eat it because noone else in the family will, so it's pointless for me to cook it. Although I still do sometimes since I am kinda evil after all.

However, I don't like okra, lima beans, mint jelly, rice pudding or tapioca - any pudding really, although if it's chocolate I'll bend that, but those puddings with creepy lumps in them skeeve me right the hell out.
posted by mygothlaundry 19 October | 14:57
I love eggplant, okra, mushrooms, cilantro, canned tuna but absolutely loathe sushi, any type of squash, pumpkin, artichoke, asparagus, lima beans, green beans (but i love black eyes peas) and brussel sprouts...ugh!
posted by ramix 19 October | 15:33
The only time I've had eggplant was as eggplant parmesan once and I liked it. I was told the secret to making it edible was letting it soak in salty water.

I really wish I liked more vegetables. I don't like anything like cauliflower, broccoli, squashes, zucchini, artichokes, lima beans. I know I'd be much healthier but I just can't force myself to eat them because the taste is just so foul. Remember that bit about "supertasters" a while back? That's me.

I'd also like to like wine. I've tried lots of variations but I just can't develop an appreciation for it. Part of the problem is the money and waste. I hate eating/drinking a little bit of something and then throwing the rest away. I do like champagne. *slurp*
posted by deborah 19 October | 16:25
Once in awhile I will slice eggplant thin, bake it in some olive oil, and put it on pizza. Pretty yummy that way and I have had eggplant haters compliment me on the pizza. Then get pissed at me, of course.
posted by danf 19 October | 16:45
I like eggplant, in parmigiana, in lasagna. I wish I could like wine (gives me a headache), broccolirabe, artichokes, and guacamole. Oh, and I cannot tolerate organ meats-liver, kidneys, etc. And coconut. I keep trying it in different ways, but I still don't like it.
posted by redvixen 19 October | 18:33
I'm surprised nobody has suggested trying aubergine instead.

Miko's suggestions are all good and, as Specklet and others have said, the key thing is to make sure it's cooked right.

I'd recommend deep fried in batter with miel de caņa (though a sweet dipping sauce would do instead), as part of ratatouille, or in a curry with peas and potatoes. Indian brinjal pickle is one of the best Indian pickles you can get. (I've never tried kimchee, but from the sounds of it, it would take some brinjal to lure me back to pickles afterwards).

You can also just grill them on a barbeque. This is a great way to cook them prior to making babaganoush, but you can do all sorts of things with them after they're grilled. Just make sure the eggplant is cooked all the way through.

I read somewhere that, traditionally, Turkish girls weren't eligible for marriage until they'd learned at least 200 ways to cook an eggplant.

The thais have several kinds of eggplant including apple eggplants (makreua pro) and pea eggplant (makruea puang). I've had some of the latter in a green curry in Sydney and it was fantastic.

Try some Spanish, Turkish, Persian, Indian, and Thai recipes with eggplant in them. You're bound to find one you love.
posted by GeckoDundee 19 October | 19:22
Yeah, mgl, what's up with mint jelly? And pepper jelly? And ascpic? And sherbert? All kind of congeal in my mind.

Eggplant - not sworn off it, just not cooking it at home anymore after my brief infatuation.
posted by rainbaby 19 October | 20:32
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