The Best of Stuffed Vegetables

Some call this dish sheikh mahshi, others call it sheikh al-mahshi, and the addition of al- makes all the difference. The former means ‘stuffed chieftain,’ whereas the latter means ‘the best of the stuffed food.’ The first is justified since the principal vegetable used in the stuffing is eggplant/aubergine. The green stem and the bulging black body of the vegetable might have inspired a playful mind into giving it this name. On the other hand, the second nomenclature m