Armenian cuisine

You can talk about real Armenian cuisine for a long time. Simply because it is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest in the Caucasus. And already at the dawn of its development, fermentation processes in baking were used in full force. And these are not empty words, but the true results of archaeological excavations carried out by scientists.

History of Armenian cuisine

The formation and development of Armenian cuisine began about 2500 years ago. It was influenced by the history of the development of the people themselves, its geographical position and, of course, cultural traditions. The Armenians now and then found themselves under the rule of the Romans, Turks, Mongols and Arabs. Nevertheless, this did not prevent them from protecting their culinary habits and recipes for preparing the most popular dishes. On the contrary, it allowed to have a huge impact on the development of other cuisines.

The indisputable advantage of Armenia is the favorable climate that has reigned here from time immemorial. Together with fertile lands and a huge number of large and small rivers, it gave its inhabitants the opportunity to engage in livestock breeding. Subsequently, this occupation influenced the Armenian cuisine itself, as it made meat and meat dishes its basis. In addition, it was cattle breeding that once gave Armenians delicious dairy products, from which they now produce their famous cheeses.

Agriculture has been another favorite pastime of this people since ancient times. It was thanks to him that a huge amount of vegetables and grains such as rice, barley, wheat appeared in Armenian cuisine, which later turned into mouth-watering side dishes for meat and fish dishes. Along with them, legumes and greens were revered here.

The Armenians cooked exclusively on fire. Later they got a special stove – tonir. It was a deep hole in the ground, the walls of which were laid out of stone. With its help, the peasants not only baked lavash and stewed meat, but also smoked food, dried fruit and even warmed their homes. Interestingly, in pre-Christian times, such a stove was called the symbol of the sun. Therefore, when baking bread in it, women always bowed to her, believing that in fact they were sending their obeisances to the sun. Interestingly, in villages that did not have churches, priests could even conduct wedding ceremonies in front of the tonir.

Armenians have always been famous for the technology of cooking their dishes. Since ancient times, they have tried to stuff vegetables and stuff meat with herbs and vegetables. Their cooking often took a long time. Simply because they respected and honored food and considered the process of preparing it to be a sacred ritual.

Features of Armenian cuisine

Authentic Armenian cuisine is distinctive and unique. Moreover, it is distinguished from others by its characteristic features:

• Duration of cooking – quite often the whole process can take several days or even months when it comes to cooking sweets.
• The ability of Armenians to combine incongruous within one dish – a vivid example of this is Arganak. It is cooked in chicken and venison broth. Besides him, they like to mix grains and legumes in one plate.
• Special technology for making soups – almost all of them are cooked here on an egg or sour milk basis.
• The pungency and piquancy of dishes – it is achieved thanks to a huge number of spices, seasonings and wild herbs, of which there are more than 300 species. Caraway, pepper, garlic remain the favorite. Moreover, they are put not only in meat dishes, but also in snacks and soups.
• Lots of salt – it is explained by the climatic conditions of the region, since in hot weather the body uses it intensively.

Traditions of Armenian cuisine

Whatever it was, but this land is really famous for its winemaking. The results of excavations confirm that wine was made here already in the XI-X century. BC e. Herodotus and Xenophon wrote about them. Along with them, the Armenians made cognac, which today is associated with Armenia.

Moreover, like hundreds of years ago, in many regions of the country, lavash is baked in autumn, which is then dried and put into furnaces to store for 3-4 months. If necessary, it will be enough to moisten it and cover with a towel. After half an hour, it will become soft again.

Today in the diet of Armenians there is a huge amount of meat (mainly from beef, pork, chicken, goose, duck) and fish dishes (most often from trout). Among vegetables, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, beets, spinach, asparagus, zucchini, pumpkin, peppers, carrots, cucumbers and eggplants are widely used. Among the fruits, pomegranate, fig, lemon, quince, cherry plum prevail.

Basic cooking methods:

The traditional Armenian table is fabulously rich in delicacies and dishes. Nevertheless, the following dishes occupy a special place in it:

Khorovats is a barbecue made from large pieces of meat.

Kufta – meat balls made from boiled meat.

Amich is a poultry (chicken or turkey) stuffed with dried fruits and rice.

Pastiners – lamb stew with vegetables.

Kololak is an analogue of meatballs.

Harisa is a porridge made from wheat and chicken.

Borani – chicken with eggplant and fermented milk snack, fried in a special way.

Bozbash – lamb boiled with herbs and peas.

Sujukh is a dry-cured sausage with spices.

Kchuch is a dish made from potatoes and lamb.

Tzhvzhik is a dish of vegetables and liver.

Putuk – mutton soup.

Cutan is a baked fish stuffed with rice, raisins and ginger.

Tolma – lamb with rice and herbs, wrapped in grape leaves.

Gata is a sweet pastry filled with fruits and vegetables with sugar.