Strings of fruit sujukh, made from strings of shelled walnuts (dipped in grape syrup until a thick and tender coat covers them), hang like garlands in open-air stalls, in front of the famous Garni Temple. “It’s a wonderful high-energy snack that can be taken on hikes and day excursions,” explains my Armenian guide Tatevik Martini. Thin roll-up sheets of sour plum purée or fruit leather called T’tu Lavash also line the shelves along with walnut preserves and jams. For a fruit lover like me, this is heaven.
Armenia is a sunny country, rich with bright and juicy fruits and vegetables. At the local market, I am entranced by the variety of fruits overflowing from the stalls: apricot, pomegranate, apple, pear, grape, cherry, peach, plum, quince, fig, melon, watermelon, and much more. On every dining table we see big jugs of Kompot—a non-alcoholic clear juice obtained by cooking fruit like strawberries, apricot, peaches and apple, in a large volume of water.
Armenian cuisine, I discover, has strong ties with Turkish, Georgian and Persian Cuisine and is literally its ‘edible heritage’. The story of many classic Armenian dishes is a historical outline through which we can trace Armenian migrations. Much of life outside the capital centres around agriculture and farming, so fresh produce is a given. Armenian cuisine distinguishes itself from other Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines with its emphasis on fresh herbs rather than dried spices.
On long dining tables, an array of starters similar to a mezze vies for my attention. It ranges from various cheeses to a variety of salads and piquant pickled vegetables. The two common types of cheese that are served are Ori and Chanakh. Both require short periods of fermentation and are aged in brine. They are salty and not fully aged. The goat cheese is soaked in a brine solution, drained, grated and then mixed with herbs. Chechil is mozzarella-like string cheese, made from sheep or cow’s milk. What tickles my palate the most are Eetch-the Armenian version of the herby Taboulleh salad with lemon, parsley, mint and tomato sauce, Haigagan Salad made of cucumbers with olive oil dressing and dry mint and a piquant smoked eggplant salad with diced tomatoes and a generous sprinkle of parsley called Sempougov.
A good window into local produce is the shukas or fresh food markets, with myriad smells of fresh produce and spices. Shukas are stocked with freshly butchered meat, fish, vegetables and fruits piled in perfect triangles, spices, bouquets of greens called Khar Kanachi (fresh herbs like dill, basil and parsley), mushrooms, cheeses, dairy products and freshly baked breads. Armenian food is practically chemical free, a side effect of chemical fertilisers being unavailable or too expensive.
Bread is “de rigueur”, particularly flat breads and part of every Armenian meal. The omnipresent bread is thin lavash (reminiscent of roomali rotis), which is still baked using ancient technology in clay tonirs.
At the Old Yerevan Restaurant in the capital city Yerevan, which serves Armenian cuisine amid boisterous minstrels belting out folk music, I watch old women swirl lavash like handkerchiefs, over their heads, before putting it into the ovens. Lavash is made from regular flour and spring water on a tonir wall (like a tandoor) fired with dry grapevines. Before eating, it is sprinkled with water and covered. And, in a couple of minutes, the lavash becomes soft. Also popular is a round bread called matnakash and small cheese sandwiches called durum.
I feast on small pots of thickened yoghurt called matsun—drunk by Armenians from time immemorial. In summers, matsun is diluted with water and it turns into a refreshing milk beverage adding cinnamon, cardamom, clove, saffron and vanilla. I also indulge my sweet tooth with Gata, which is a multi-layered cake made with flour, eggs, honey and cream. Each layer is impregnated with melted butter and sugar.
Wheat is the omnipresent grain that Armenians love in all forms—whole wheat, shelled wheat, bulgur (cracked wheat), semolina and flour. For the meat-lovers, the famous Armenian dish Khash is made from cow’s feet and organ parts.
“Tradition holds that Khash can only be cooked by men, who spend the entire night cooking. They can be eaten only in the early morning in winter, served with heaps of fresh garlic and dried lavash,” Tatevik says.
Yerevan has a lively café culture that is almost European. Small cafés line the main streets and side alleys down and around the city’s downtown. The local coffee, called soorj, is served from a long-handled coffee pot. It is thick and murky, and probably an onomatopoeic word derived from the sound of contented slurping! To get a taste of the famous Armenian cognac, we visit the Ararat Factory in Yerevan. Armenia grows six grape varieties, and Armenian cognacs are divided into ordinary, vintage and collection ones, depending on the method and period of cognac spirit aging.
I bring home reams of fruit sujukh and some jars of walnut jam (popok muraba), which is made from green walnuts that are boiled in sweet syrup until as tender as plums. Every time I pop one into my mouth, I am reminded of this mountainous country with its remote monasteries and churches, rich history and even richer food culture which it has preserved in this age of globalisation.