It is amazing how much oil they will soak up, isn't it? When making a moussaka (sorry George, my reciple is probably horribly unauthentic!) I like to fry the slices of aubergine in olive oil first, and they'll soak up gallons until a certain point when they spit it all out again and go soft. I have to keep reminding myself to keep the faith and wait for them to spit out the oil. I've heard that salting them means that they don't start off quite so absorbent. Could be useful for dealing with shipwrecks, though...