Torshi Betingan

There is a superstitious belief in some Middle Eastern countries that certain types of aubergine bring on one the curse of infertility. Women are sometimes afraid to use a particularly black one or an oddly mauve one. On the other hand, a walk through a field of aubergines is sometimes prescribed as a cure for female sterility. For many years the head gardener at the Ezbekieh Gardens in Cairo derived a small income from a patch of aubergines by charging women a fee to walk through it.