Armenian cuisine. A journey through history.
Armenian cuisine is known all over the world for its taste and diversity.
The recipes of most dishes of the national cuisine are very old and have been handed down to us from generation to generation. Among the old and favorite dishes are tolma, harissa, ghapama, Vana pilaf, khurjin, pas, etc.
Harissa
Harissa is one of the old traditional Armenian dishes. It has an interesting method of preparation. It takes 4-5 hours to make harissa, depending on the type of semolina. Wheat and chicken, mutton or beef are cooked in water, stirring with a wooden ladle until it becomes a sticky mass. When eaten, melted ghee is poured over it to get the full flavor.
The name Harissa has an interesting history. After leaving Khor Virap, Grigor Lusavorich came to Vagharshapat and preached for sixty days for the local pagan Armenians. At that time, in order to give food to the poor, he orders the villagers to bring a lot of oil and sheep. When the oil and the sheep are brought, Lusavorich slaughters the sheep, they put big pots on the hearth, put the meat in it and the semolina on top. Then he orders the meat in the pot to be stirred, saying “Stir it up.” From there, the name of the food remains harissa. And since those times, harissa has become one of the favorite dishes of the national cuisine. You can try this traditional delicious dish at Gata tavern.
Ghapama
Ghapama is one of the ritual dishes of the national cuisine, which was handed down to us a long time ago with its unique recipe. It is a complicated dish to prepare, it was even prepared with the whole family. Although the recipe is labor-intensive and time-consuming, it has never been missing from traditional Armenian tables. Ghapama is prepared with pumpkin. They clean the skin, cut the top part like a lid, put boiled rice, raisins, dried fruit, nuts, oil, spices and finally add honey, close the lid and put it in the oven. It cooks in almost 2 hours. Ghapama is so beloved that it even has a song. “Hey dear, it’s ghapama, it’s delicious ghapama…”
There are a number of stories related to Ghapama, one of them is that the pumpkin is considered to be the globe, the rice is considered to be the whole of humanity, the dried fruits and nuts are people of different faiths. The point of all this is that the earth is so small that we should always live in peace with each other.
You can taste these and many other traditional, delicious Armenian dishes at the Gata tavern.
Spas
Spas (tanapur) is the favorite soup of Armenians. It is prepared in almost all families and has two ways of serving. Warm in winter and cold in summer. Spas is made with matshun. You can taste this delicious dish at Gata tavern.
