YARP hello from Elise! Well, you want to know about food? You asked the right person! In Armenia the food you can get really depends on where you are. In Bjni, a village not so far from Yerevan, you can pick fresh fruit but that does not mean you can’t eat fruit and vegetables in Yerevan. A common food in both Bjni and Yerevan is khorovats (barbeque). It is an Armenian tradition to eat khorovats on special occasions such as weddings or birthdays. Khorovats is sometimes served with grilled vegetables. Khorovats is served on wooden sticks and tastes good wrapped in lavash.
Lavash is Armenian bread, sort of like pita bread only much longer and much thinner, almost like paper. To make lavash the way they do in Armenia you can look and see the link at the end of this post.
This is not with details but there is a hole, like an oven, in the ground that gives off warm air with fire on the bottom. Then you spread the lavash on a matt/board, and stick it in the hole in the ground. After two minutes, you take it out, let it cool and that’s how you make lavash.
Another typical Armenian food is dolma. Dolma is cabbage or grape leaves stuffed with ground beef, rice, pepper, salt, tomato paste, oil, dried fruits and various greens. Sometimes Armenians also stuff apples, tomatoes or pepper with this meat mixture.
One of my favorite dishes in Armenia is lahmacun. Lahmacun (pronounced Lah-ma-joo) is basically Armenian pizza. Lamacun is made of lamb meat, garlic and various greens on a thin piece of bread. Lahmacun is sometimes served with lavash or tan, an Armenian drink made of yogurt, water, chopped cucumbers, and salt.
All of these foods are made from old traditional recipes and take a long time to make, but if you are going to make one of these foods I told you about, you have to have patience; it’s worth the wait for it tastes like eating heaven itself. Now, If you had questions on food that I probably answered, can you answer mine? If so, can you tell me which food you would like to taste the most? And remember, this is only a breadcrumb of all the foods in Armenia.
Amazing, great observations, excellent writing! Thank you!
Dear Tamar,
Thanks for the comment! Now to answer your questions: my favorite restaurant is Tashir Pizza :).
I enjoy Armenian food a lot, but I still do miss American food.
No, I have not tried that kind of cheese. It sounds delicious! I hope to hear from you again! -Elise
Hey, guys! You have made my stomach grumble after reading that. If only I had some lavash to snack on!
You couldn’t have described the food better… even if I wasn’t Armenian, I would have a solid understanding of what typical Armenian cuisine looks and tastes like. Adding the video at the end was also an awesome idea because after creating a mental picture of lavash, readers can see the process of how its made.
Well done! You guys are ready to publish in The New York Times travel section 🙂
Some questions:
– What is your favorite restaurant in Armenia?
– Do you enjoy the food or are you missing American food?
– My favorite cheese is a smoking cheese from Armenian. The type of cheese has escaped my mind! It is packaged in about 5 inch sticks. Have you tried it/do you like it?
I wished I could have the lavash next to my khorovatz!! What an informative article, girls. I enjoyed reading your blog and viewing the video. It makes me yearn for a visit to Armenia. May be next year!!