Welcome to Five Course Trivia! Five days a week, we’ll post five questions about something from the culinary world, from soup to nuts and all dishes in between.

To start out this week, we’re investigating the vegetable behind the most widely-used produce-based emoji, the eggplant.

Good luck!

1. One process often used when preparing eggplants is to cut it into cubes, and then soaking it in heavily salted water. Give the one-word name for this process.

2. Name the French stew seen here, consisting of eggplant, onion, sweet peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes. Often served as an appetizer or side dish, this dish notably made $620 million at the box office.

3. What Sicilian dish seen here is a spread made with eggplant, tomato, zucchini, and pine nuts?

4. Coming from the Arabic for “pampered daddy” and often served with a pomegranate seed slash olive oil mix, name this dish made with roasted eggplant, tahini, garlic, and lemon juice.

5. Name either of the two countries that produce about 85% of the world’s eggplant.

Learned League precedent (LL60, MD25) – While the name for this popular Mediterranean dish is derived from Arabic for “chilled,” in Greek cuisine it is usually served warm. It often consists of layers of eggplant, minced lamb and tomatoes, and white sauce, which are cooked separately and then baked together.

Tomorrow: Since we didn’t cover pies on Pi Day, then it’s high time to cover it now.

ANSWERS BELOW:

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1. Degorging
2. Ratatouille
3. Caponata
4. Baba ghanoush (or whichever variant you want)
5. China or India
LL. Moussaka