IMAM BAYELDI - տերտերը մարեցաւ

Faith called me on Friday afternoon to ask me if my husband and I would like to join her at Hye Cafe that night (the last dinner at St. James Armenian Apostolic Church before lent begins). Why not?  Shish kebab, kheyma, and I don't have to make it.  But I'm really writing this post today to call attention to the sign that greeted us as we entered the door of the cafe.  The message tickled many of us. People with cameras had to wait their turn in order to get the above photo (this one courtesy of Nancy); in fact, the photo probably appeared on Facebook that very night . . .  The story goes like this: upon experiencing the taste of this eggplant dish (fried in olive oil with onions, garlic, tomatoes, lemon juice and parsley), a Turkish imam (priest) fainted from the pleasure of it; thus the name of the dish (in Turkish, and I believe, the world over) is Imam Bayeldi.

After finally getting her turn at taking the above photo, Nancy related the following story.
When she and her husband were in Armenia at the restaurant Agoump - Ակումբ (42 Tumanyan Street, Yerevan), the name for  this preparation of eggplant (which, as I've already mentioned, is known the world over as Imam Bayeldi) had been translated on the menu  to derderu maretsav - տերտերը մարեցաւ --the 'priest' fainted.  Nancy and her husband, who had never before heard the eggplant dish translated into Armenian, read it out loud to each other and started guffawing, only to look up and find their priest from back home (who hadn't looked at the menu yet) looking across the restaurant at them, wondering why they had, laughing, shouted in Armenian that the priest had fainted!

N.B.  I know for sure my spelling in Armenian is off, so please feel free to correct the spelling in your comments below!