Brands of Armenian cuisine: What do We Know about the National Cuisine?

Barbecue, hash, harisa, spas: these are dishes that, as the Armenian national dishes, or transfer any Armenian has ever been in Armenia, a foreigner.

“They have branded the Armenian cuisine, – says the ethnologist Ruzan Tsaturyan. “But behind them there is a very rich and varied national cuisine, which needs no introduction.”

23-Ani said that today’s youth is keen to cook meals taken throughout the world: “Young people by nature tend to novelty.” From the national Armenian dishes she can cook just dolma with meat.

And Ms. Gohar said that in the family’s menu ethnic dishes have a special place: her grandmother gave her granddaughter recipes for oatmeal, soup, pumpkin and beans, dairy dishes with pumpkin, and others. Gohar, in turn, passed these recipes are her daughter: “I did not force her, she herself became interested and learned to cook the national dish.”

Chairman of NGO “Development and preservation of Armenian culinary traditions,” Sedrak Mamoulian said that in Soviet times and were forced out into oblivion, many Armenian recipes and dishes. “In those days we did not think about cooking, while our neighbors with small resources, to develop a strong kitchen.” According to him, Armenian cuisine for centuries mastered the neighbor and not only the neighboring countries in an effort to destroy the source, the origin of food. “Especially West-cuisine is very fragmented,” – says Mamoulian.

Tsaturyan notes that with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of Armenia was rescued from oblivion and has been widely used national cuisine.

Ethnologue explains the return of ethnic cuisine by two factors: first – the 90-s were a period of national awakening and national cuisine has been a component of identity, in addition, it contributed to the economic factor – an unfavorable socio-economic situation has meant that the people turned again to the dishes of their own products.

Mamoulian said that to determine the origin of any dish is to find out what people in ancient times used the necessary preparation for their traditional instruments.

For example, the Armenians were the first to cook dishes from cereals, so they used a grinder and mortar. Armenians are also all those dishes that are prepared in clay pots. Armenians were also the first canned meat and prepared dishes from chopped meats.
According to experts, the preparation of each dish has its own ritual significance. For example, Armenians prepare for Christmas porridge made of flour fried wheat on the feast of the Assumption – milk soup, and the feast of the Holy Cross in tonir cooked goat, etc. Mamoulian, however, notes that the Armenian dishes have earlier origins than Christianity and Christian festivals.

Tsaturyan and Mamoulian and attach great importance to a correct understanding of the Armenian cuisine abroad. They say that the Internet, at the international level of the Armenian cuisine represented by people who do not understand it. As an example, they point to the UNESCO program, in which the different nations represented by their cuisine: Armenian, representing the national cuisine, said that the Armenians are three types of dolma – with grape leaves, cabbage and vegetables, while in Armenia, many towns and villages , so many types of dolma. A Azerbaijani stated that their kitchen 3700 years, etc.”