According to Turkish legend, this dish of eggplants stuffed with onions and tomatoes is so tasty that when it was served to a Muslim priest, he fainted from gastronomic delight. Thenceforth, the dish was known as imam bayildi, meaning the priest fainted, a dish first referred to in English in 1935. Further back in history, the title of imam derived from the Turkish word amma, meaning to go before.