Armenian cuisine

Armenian cuisine is one of the oldest cuisines in Asia and the oldest one in Transcaucasia. The fact has been proven by archaeologists whose researches confirm the fact that though Armenian cuisine is more than two thousand year old it has survived till our days. The traditional Armenian cookery is very diverse in everything - in using original cooking devices and appliances, in the methods of preparing meals, in the nature of products used for preparing them, in the preservation of the taste of the ingredients used. The main elements of the Armenian cookery are the following: meat and fish, milk and milk products, farinaceous dishes, fruits and vegetables. As for the meat, the most common dishes made in Armenian households are chicken kebab, lamajo (flat cake with meat), rice and baklava. Fish (mostly trout) is also widely used in Armenian cookery. The methods that are used to prepare fish help preserve the delicate taste and the chewy texture of the fish. The Armenian bread – lavash – has the form of a long thin stripe of baked dough that can be easily folded, about one meter in length. Until today lavash is made using a method that was used in ancient times – in a cylindrical earthen hollow-ware that's dug into the ground. In some areas of Armenia there's another tradition – in the autumn the bread is baked in quantities that are enough for three to four months. Then lavash is dried, piled and covered with cloths. In case of need a dry lavash can be dampened with water and left for a half an hour – then it becomes soft again.