I like aubergines, though I do find it quite easy to prepare them in ways that make them not so nice, whereas other vegetables are much more tolerant to mis–handling. They are probably not something that those on a swingeing budget would ever eat, but actually, they are not necessarily off-limits. Probably my favourite aubergine recipe involves cutting them into centimetre-thick slices, coating in breadcrumbs and frying over a reasonably low heat so that the aubergine softens as the breadcrumbs crisp. The aubergine becomes soft and gooey, and gives away why our American friends call it an eggplant.
My closest supermarket to home is a Waitrose, which has a perhaps unfair reputation for being expensive. A single, quite decent-sized aubergine is 80p there. You can probably get 6–8 good slices out of one. On the university campus where I work we have a smart new mini market which sells some nice-looking fresh vegetables. The aubergines come in at 89p. Only these ones are rather smaller. The picture shows me picking one up. They're certainly rather cute little things, but not suitable either for slicing up, or eating on a tight budget
