Armenian food is one of the real Armenian experiences. Food for locals is not just something to fill in your stomach, but a big act of hospitality and generosity. Geographical location of Armenia brings in the fusion of different regional dishes with a unique local conduct. While Armenian modern cuisine is mostly meat-based, traditional Armenian food had a profound vegetarian background. Armenians use lots of herbs, grains and legumes in their daily food, they love dairy products and especially homemade cheese. However, nowadays you will experience different meat barbecues for main courses in the restaurants or for special events celebrated with family.
Being located on the Armenian Highland, the soil, sun and water give the local fruits and vegetables rich and fresh taste. Armenians are proud of their apricot, which is known from the ancient times as Prunus Armeniaca – the Armenian plum. Even if you have tried it in other countries before, Armenian apricot will introduce you to a completely different aroma. Apricots together with other local fruits such as peach, cherries, apple, fig, plums, are dried and consumed during the off-season. For the locals, dry fruits are considered as a respectful gift if you are invited somewhere. Besides this, Armenians are big fans of making pickles. In a word – they pickle everything: from traditional cucumbers, cabbage and wild herbs, to apples and watermelons. You may find pickles as a snack for your lunch or dinner.
Most of the Armenian food recipes are not difficult and they like to be experimented with. Here you can find a list of the best Armenian food names to guide you during your gastronomic tours to Armenia.
1. Armenian Bread – Lavash
It is the key to understanding traditional Armenian foods. Armenian culture is strongly connected with land cultivation, harvests and crops. For Armenians grains are the symbol of life and prosperity, therefore bread bears the same symbolism. Sharing bread with someone means to build trust and lifelong friendship. Just by mixing flour, water and salt, the dough is opened in a big oval and cooked in a few seconds in the stone oven, which Armenians call tonir. Lavash is the most essential part of Armenian foods, whether you are having a sweet breakfast or heavy meat dish, you wrap it all inside lavash. With its simple and light taste, Armenian lavash is not just a food for Armenians. During many hardships of Armenian people, such as famine or deportations, lavash had always been the main food that was dried and kept for long weeks without it getting bad and saved thousands of starving people. So it is not surprising that lavash is listed as the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
2. Armenian Barbecues
“Can’t live a day without meat”, will say typical Armenian men, who love to get together and make barbecues for family and friends. Along with the traditional dishes, Armenian BBQ or khorovats together with the famous eastern-style kebab are the most popular Armenian food nowadays. Whether it is pork, beef, lamb, chicken, fish or seasonal veggies, they are all good when served as khorovats. Armenians use salt and red pepper to marinate the meat and love it well cooked. The meat is cooked on metal skewers and natural fire. When ready, khorovats is served with lavash and cհopped onions. Don’t forget to drink a shot of homemade vodka with your delicious bite.
3. Armenian Tolma
While men are in charge of khorovats, women do magic with grape leaves and minced beef as they make tolma. You can find tolma also with cabbage leaf or inside eggplant, tomato, pepper or even some fruits. It takes time and patience to make perfect tolma, so if you are hosted in someone’s house and you are served tolma, then you are a beloved guest there. Known as dolma in the broader region, Armenians use different herbs and spices while making the filling and eat it with garlicy yogurt as a sauce. Tolma is a unifying dish for the complicated region of Armenia, you can even find some graffiti in Yerevan proclaiming “Make tolma, not war”. There is also a vegetarian tolma, where the meat is replaced with rice and lentils called pasuts tolma (Lenten tolma).
4. Armenian Ghapama
Do you know any dish that is served along with singing and dancing? One of the traditional Armenian foods called ghapama has its own song when it is brought into the room. Ghapama, traditionally known as Armenian Christmas food, is a pumpkin filled with rice, dried fruits and nuts, spiced with honey and cinnamon. All these ingredients symbolize prosperity and richness, and each of them are considered as typical Armenian foods.
5. Armenian Aveluk
As a vegetarian traveling to Armenia you can find many traditional and modern foods fitting your special diet, whereas it may be a bit hard for vegans at first sight. However, Armenian cuisine uses lots of greens and different herbs. During the springtime, you can see many villagers collecting wild herbs on the mountain slopes. Wild sorrel, or in Armenian called aveluk, is one of the most famous herbs that you can find throughout the year as after collecting it, it is weaved into long braids and dried. Sorrel can be cooked as a soup with lentils and potatoes, or it can be cut into a salad with walnuts and garlic. It is considered to be a superfood with its rich minerals and vitamins that are good for your stomach, bowel and liver.
6. Armenian Zhingyalov Hats
Another must-try food for people, who like to eat less or no meat, is the famous food from Artsakh region called zhingyalov hats, called zhingyalov hats – flat bread stuffed with a variety of greens. The fresh herbs, such as spinach, beetroot, spring onion, nettle, dill, mint, and many other wild greens create a unique combination of tastes that you can experience only in Armenia and Artsakh. The recipe may differ depending on the season and availability of herbs, as well as on the family who inherited this recipe from their grandmothers. Nowadays you may find jungle bread in many supermarkets and in restaurant menus, but if you are on a private tour in Armenia, try to experience it in a local’s house fresh from the oven.
7. Armenian Khash
When you plan to travel to Armenia during the cold season and you like experiencing hearty oily dishes, then opt in for tasting khash. As strange as it may sound, for making khash you need to simmer cow trotters overnight, that will result in a gelatin-like soup the next morning. Khash is eaten with raw garlic, dried lavash and white radish, while the eating process is accompanied by drinking strong alcohol, mainly local vodka. Usually families and friends get together on an early Saturday morning for this special khash ritual, so they have the whole weekend to digest the food and clean off the smell of garlic and vodka.
8. Armenian Harisa
Another unique national dish with rich ethnographic history is Armenian harisa – a porridge-like meal made with ground wheat and meat (chicken, beef or lamb, depending on the region) and served with added butter. Usually people make harisa in a huge metal pot and share it with family or neighbors. You may find other eastern dishes with similar names, either as main course or a desert, but the Armenian harisa is different with its preparation, taste and seasoning. It is one of the traditional Armenian foods, which like lavash, played a life-saving role during 1915 Armenian Genocide. Armenians in Musaler made harisa during the forty days of heroic fights against Ottoman army. Nowadays, on a special date in September, the generations of Musaler Armenians cook harisa in forty big pots in Musaler memorial near Yerevan and distribute it to all the visitors.
9. Armenian Ishkhan
Armenia is a landlocked country, but it is still rich with waters. Locals drink the tap water all around the country, as it is coming from nearby mountain springs. Rivers and lakes in Armenia host several types of fish, of which the two most popular ones are trout or ishkhan and whitefish. For special meals, these fish are usually cooked together with potatoes, tarragon and lemon. You may also like the barbequed version seasoned with salt and red pepper. Ishkhan is an important part of Armenian Christmas table together with rice and red wine.
10. Armenian Gata
And finally, the most popular Armenian desert is a sweet bread called gata. Many families have their own recipe for making gata, but the main ingredients are butter, sugar and walnuts. Some households had a special gata-stamp with their family name on it, which they used while baking gata. When traveling around Armenia you will find gata sold in many popular tourist spots. Especially in Garni and Geghard you will find the most traditional and freshly baked gatas, or taste the experimental gata in Haghartsin filled with dried apricots, blueberries and thyme. Forget about carbs and calories, take a bite of this delicious desert.
In the end, you may think that all these Armenian foods make the locals overweight. However, do not forget that you are on a mountainous land, where people walk up and down, breathe fresh air and drink natural mineral waters, which helps them burn many calories and stay physically fit. Thus, forget about your diet, embrace the most delicious experience and enjoy your gastronomic tour in Armenia.
