The glory of versatile Armenian cuisine and its traditions is well famous outside the country. Almost everybody who traveled to Armenia from foreign countries adore and highly value Armenian cuisine with its abundance of meals and menus offered to general public.
Armenian pork barbecue, called “khorovats”, is probably the most famous and popular of all exciting dining dishes, a queen for all major events and dinners, and for wedding parties as well. One cannot simply pass away and stay indifferent from its tempting and charming smoke, magnificent aroma, baked vegetables, saturated with the smell of coals. How about a tenderly cooked oil dolma melting in your mouth! delicious? No words can describe their fascination and taste, simply fantastic and You Should Try It! All dishes of Armenian cuisine are wonderful and loved by travelers, still popular among locals as well. Let’s research and find out what is the historical background, the explanation for this phenomena, Armenia cuisine?
Traditions of local cuisine are dating back to ancient times, since the very first moments of Armenian civilization, about 2000 years ago. A wide selection of meals with meat; pork, beef, lamb in Armenian cuisine is justifying a very well developed cattle breeding in nowadays Armenia. This industry is also a source for many dairy products; particularly brine-ripened cheeses sorts and sour-milk products that serve as a basic ingredient for many traditional Armenian meals and beverages.
Developed agriculture of Ararat valley and other agricultural areas of Armenia has historically contributed to a wide application of diverse cereals in Armenian cuisine, all made of organic products;Â spelt, millet, barley, wheat, rice; beans – string beans, lentil, mountain peas, not to say about the vast variety of organic vegetables and greens which are a corn-stones of Armenian dinners.
It is worth mentioning that cooking techniques for some meals are very sophisticated. Meat has one of the most difficult approaches to cook. Most fish and vegetable dishes require stuffing, whipping, puree; all that takes a lot of efforts and time and hard work of course. Dishes of chopped meat are very popular in Armenia, and local cuisine comprises all possible variations for that type of meals.
An important and indispensable component of Armenian cuisine is an abundance of greens on any dining table. There are lots of the green groceries and spices used in meal preparation process. On average, cooks and chefs in Armenian apply about 300 kinds of green, grasses and flowers that could be also used as seasonings or as basic dish as well.
All these makes Armenian cuisine unique, extraordinary and very delicious. It is an amazing opportunity and a real paradise for a gourmet and a real authority of culinary traditions.