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Armenian Cuisine

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Armenian Cuisine

Reference : CC12

A LITTLE HISTORY OF ARMENIAN CUISINE

Armenian cuisine is one of the oldest cuisines in Asia and the oldest Trans-Caucasian cuisine.
Its features were formed hundreds of years before I.C. , during the formation period of the Armenian people and have been preserved for three millennia to the present day.
It must also be said
that the Armenian people existed in extremely unfavorable conditions, without a true state structure and deprived of territorial unity until the Great Revolution of October 1917 and the creation of Soviet Armenia.
In fact, formed in VI before I.C. , Armenia is divided into the eastern and the western part in the II century, before I.C.
and begins to show a dependence on the Romans, Persians, Byzantines, and Arabs.
Starting with the century VII and for several centuries Armenia became the target of foreign invaders: Arabs, Turks, Mongols and Iranians.
In the period between XVII to the beginning of the century. XIX, Armenia was divided between Turkey and Iran. During this period ,
Armenia's economy, human and material resources fell into decadence, but the spiritual and material culture did not change; and Armenian cuisine did not succumb. On the contrary, the Armenians contributed to the cuisine of the Seljuk Turks, in the same way that later, in Europe,
authentic Armenian dishes entered under Turkish names and became known as tasteful pearls of Ottoman cuisine (eg Dolma!).
In addition, not only on the Armenian territory, but also in the numerous diasporas, created in Asia, Europe and the Americas by the Armenians who emigrated, the Armenian cuisine
conserved with its specific features.
The traditional spirit and transmission of the Armenian culinary art manifests itself in many ways: in the application of the old cooking technique and in the techniques of food preparation, in the composition of basic foods, in the preservation and preservation of tastes, in the palette of favorite dishes.
The type of hearth ("tonir" - a cylindrical pit in the ground where the fire was made with dry vine twigs) and the choice of cooking vessels, practically invented by the Armenians, spread throughout Trans-Caucasus, having influence even on foods. Vatra Tonir defined the specific nature of bread,
as well as certain soups and meat dishes. Vegetables are boiled on it, kachas (porridge) is stewed, fish and poultry are smoked.
The names given to the dishes are not always related to the ingredients that make them up, as is the case with Europeans, but are often related to the vessel in which they are prepared.
such as « poutouk », « ktchutch », « tapak », - all varieties of fired clay dishes and names of soups or entrees at the same time. This tradition was also transmitted to the neighbors of the Armenians – the Georgians and the Azeris.
The technique of preparing Armenian dishes is generally complicated and, in many cases, requires a lot of work.
The preparation of a large number of meats, fish and vegetables consists of stuffing, beating, making purees and creams, which require a lot of work and a lot of time («kololik» or «kololak»).
Another particular feature of Armenian cuisine techniques, as for other oriental cuisines,
consists of separating the different stages of preparation and assembling them at the end. These complexities are very well seen in the Armenian pastry preparations: the long process of the fetage dough for "gâtha" and "nazouk", (often these products can last 15 days of work).
The technical tips for the manufacture of cakes are distinguished by great ingenuity and an alternative frequency of operations, thanks to which even simple vegetables such as eggplant, gogonella, pumpkin, as well as green nuts, pumpkin skin - turn into a cake original and refined.
The diversity of technical procedures is clearly seen in the preparation of soups: we thus have "Spas" and "Tanovi" based on matsoun (traditional yogurt, slightly acidic, to taste), "bozbaches" prepared separately, complex varieties of noodles and pasta, and finally porridges that incorporate various components, prepared separately.
The objective of these processes is to create a product, a richer food thanks to the long culinary treatment and the addition of multiple complementary components. Hence, an abundance of minced meat dishes, to which other minced components are added. Such are « kololak », « skchtorats », « dolma », etc.
In Armenian cuisine there is
, also cuts of meat such as roasts, beef and lamb sausages, as well as whole bird dishes.
In conclusion, Armenian cuisine has diverse dishes in composition, it is distinguished by its rich aromatic range and refined taste.

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