Recent Changes

{image004.jpg}
http://www.lechaim.ru/ARHIV/195/menu.htm
cuisines in Central Asiathe Middle East and the
Tradition and continuity of the Armenian cuisine is very diverse in using old kitchen appliances and cooking technology, and in the composition of food raw materials and to preserve the taste scale, and type of the favorite dishes. Cuisine of Armenia, and especially Armenian dolma is as old as its history, how the land on which it is formed. Armenian culinary traditions include more than 2,000 years. The abundance of meat in the Armenian table - this is the result of ancient cattle on the Armenian Plateau, which has led to a variety of livestock and poultry (Uvezian, 1974).
Early emergence of agriculture in the fertile valleys of Armenia led to the use of a wide range of crops in Armenian cuisine - spelled, millet, barley, wheat, rice, and legumes - beans, beans, lentils, peas mountain. As well as a broad variety of vegetables and herbs (Petrosian and Underwood, 2006).

Then add in the mince very finely chopped onion and chopped parsley, mint, and oregano. Herbs can be dried. Greens and onions should be, again, a third of the amount of stuffing. Black pepper and salt should be added to the mince and then everything should be mixed all together (Vanesyan, personal communication, April 14, 2012).
Wrapping - wrapping mince in the leaves. At first it may seem difficult, but it is not so. At the bottom of a large pan lined with a layer of leaves, and then dolma should tightly fit. The pan should be filled with the water but it should not cover all of the dolma. Pan covers with the lid lightly, and on a small fire the dolma will be ready in forty or fifty minutes. Armenian dolma should be consumed while it is hot. It is served with unsweetened yoghurt. In Armenia, dolma is usually prepared during the winter or late springtime when grape leaves are young and soft (Vanesyan, personal communication, April 14, 2012).
{image003.jpg} {image002.jpg} {dolma5502.JPG}
http://www.lechaim.ru/ARHIV/195/menu.htm
Over the years, Armenians have learnt to improvise more with national dishes, as more food choices and more food resources are available. In the past, people used only lamb mince when cooking dolma, and now many people use a variety, such as beef and pork meats. Some people stopped using rice, when cooked dolma, just use beef mince, onions, tomatoes and herbs. All these make dolma to be rich in protein, and lessen the consumption of carbohydrates. People have become more open to changes; more people are concerned with health and weight problems. Amongst all of the variation that dolma has, the one with the pork mince is less popular as it makes this dish very fatty, thus people have found an alternative by mixed beef and pork mince, which makes it soft and less fatty (Alexanian, personal communication, April 17, 2012).

How to cook Dolma and what has changed through out the years.
First Step - salty grape leaves. You must try to select the best possible soft 1.5 kg of mince and 0.5 kg of vine leaves. They should be rinsed with cold water, wrung out, rinsed with boiling water and then squeezed (Vanesyan, personal communication, April 14, 2012).
1.5kg of minemince add 1/3
Then add in the mince very finely chopped onion and chopped parsley, mint, and oregano. Herbs can be dried. Greens and onions should be, again, a third of the amount of stuffing. Black pepper and salt should be added to the mince and then everything should be mixed all together (Vanesyan, personal communication, April 14, 2012).
Wrapping - wrapping mince in the leaves. At first it may seem difficult, but it is not so. At the bottom of a large pan lined with a layer of leaves, and then dolma should tightly fit. The pan should be filled with the water but it should not cover all of the dolma. Pan covers with the lid lightly, and on a small fire the dolma will be ready in forty or fifty minutes. Armenian dolma should be consumed while it is hot. It is served with unsweetened yoghurt. In Armenia, dolma is usually prepared during the winter or late springtime when grape leaves are young and soft (Vanesyan, personal communication, April 14, 2012).

ARMENIAN ARMENIAN DOLMA
{image004.jpg}
http://www.lechaim.ru/ARHIV/195/menu.htm

ARMENIAN DOLMA
{image004.jpg}
http://www.lechaim.ru/ARHIV/195/menu.htm
Armenian cuisine is one of the oldest cuisines in Central Asia and the most ancient in the Eastern Europe. Features of this cuisine have developed, at least a millennium before our era, during the formation of the Armenian people, and remain largely in the over three thousand years before the present day. In the XVII century, before the HC Armenia was divided between Turkey and Iran. During this period the economy of Armenia, its human and material resources have declined, but the spiritual and cultural side have not changed and Armenian cuisine has not perished (Petrosian and Underwood, 2006).
Tradition and continuity of the Armenian cuisine is very diverse in using old kitchen appliances and cooking technology, and in the composition of food raw materials and to preserve the taste scale, and type of the favorite dishes. Cuisine of Armenia, and especially Armenian dolma is as old as its history, how the land on which it is formed. Armenian culinary traditions include more than 2,000 years. The abundance of meat in the Armenian table - this is the result of ancient cattle on the Armenian Plateau, which has led to a variety of livestock and poultry (Uvezian, 1974).
Early emergence of agriculture in the fertile valleys of Armenia led to the use of a wide range of crops in Armenian cuisine - spelled, millet, barley, wheat, rice, and legumes - beans, beans, lentils, peas mountain. As well as a broad variety of vegetables and herbs (Petrosian and Underwood, 2006).
{Learn_how_to_eat_dolma_in_its_various_styles1.jpg}
http://www.shishmediterranean.com/Menu.php
Dolma is the most popular dish in Armenian culture. People cannot imagine weddings, birthday feasts and just family dinners without dolma. People are extremely attached to this dish, from the youngest to the oldest of generations. It has been present in Armenian culture for a long time, however there is no evidence how dolma has appeared in Armenian culture exactly. However there is a story among people, a long time ago Armenians were growing grape to make homemade vine. Men were shepherds and women stayed at home looking after the kids and homes. The most popular meal among people included a lot of meat and herbs, while men brought meat, usually it was lamb, and women gathered to cook together trying to create new dishes, in order to be bring something new to the culture. In the past, when people made dolma they chopped the meat, nowadays people use meat mince. Therefore, because of the winery culture and shepherds, Armenian women have created the dolma, anyway there is no clear evidence of this story, and this story is based upon Armenian people (Vanesyan, personal communication, April 14, 2012).
In Armenian language "Dolma" means "vine leaves", in Tukish the same word means “stuffed”. Dolma represents the Armenian people. No Armenian celebration or feast is complete without a Dolma dish. “Dolma” dish means more than just a meal for Armenian people, it represents history, values and traditions for every and each of the Armenians people, no matter how far away Armenians are from Armenia. This dish is absolutely correlated to the dignity and pride of the nation (Petrosian and Underwood, 2006).
Throughout the history and timeline the attitude towards food has not been changed, people are still very traditional and conservative when it comes to food, especially dolma (Karapetyan, 2006).
{ind.jpg} {фот4.jpg}
http://ribchansky.com/dolma-echmiadzinskaya/
In Armenia, people do not eat junk food as people are used to eating meals that are rich of vegetables and proteins. The food prices are cheaper in Armenia than in New Zealand, especially prices on vegetables and fruits, which is why eating healthy is affordable (Vanesyan, personal communication, April 14, 2012). Dolma is the best example, the food is not just what ones consume, and what makes one to feel full it what helps a person to feel healthy and full of energy, basically no unhealthy snacks or meals with high level of trans saturated fats (Petrosian and Underwood, 2006).
How to cook Dolma and what has changed through out the years.
First Step - salty grape leaves. You must try to select the best possible soft 1.5 kg of mince and 0.5 kg of vine leaves. They should be rinsed with cold water, wrung out, rinsed with boiling water and then squeezed (Vanesyan, personal communication, April 14, 2012).
Stuffing - In the past Dolma was usually cooked with the lamb mince but now people use beef mince as well. To the 1.5kg of mine add 1/3 cup of rice, does not matter whether it should be un-boiled or pre-boiled. But there is saying that with the pre-boiled rice mince becomes softer (Vanesyan, personal communication, April 14, 2012).
Then add in the mince very finely chopped onion and chopped parsley, mint, and oregano. Herbs can be dried. Greens and onions should be, again, a third of the amount of stuffing. Black pepper and salt should be added to the mince and then everything should be mixed all together (Vanesyan, personal communication, April 14, 2012).
Wrapping - wrapping mince in the leaves. At first it may seem difficult, but it is not so. At the bottom of a large pan lined with a layer of leaves, and then dolma should tightly fit. The pan should be filled with the water but it should not cover all of the dolma. Pan covers with the lid lightly, and on a small fire the dolma will be ready in forty or fifty minutes. Armenian dolma should be consumed while it is hot. It is served with unsweetened yoghurt. In Armenia, dolma is usually prepared during the winter or late springtime when grape leaves are young and soft (Vanesyan, personal communication, April 14, 2012).
{image003.jpg} {image002.jpg}
http://www.lechaim.ru/ARHIV/195/menu.htm
Over the years, Armenians have learnt to improvise more with national dishes, as more food choices and more food resources are available. In the past, people used only lamb mince when cooking dolma, and now many people use a variety, such as beef and pork meats. Some people stopped using rice, when cooked dolma, just use beef mince, onions, tomatoes and herbs. All these make dolma to be rich in protein, and lessen the consumption of carbohydrates. People have become more open to changes; more people are concerned with health and weight problems. Amongst all of the variation that dolma has, the one with the pork mince is less popular as it makes this dish very fatty, thus people have found an alternative by mixed beef and pork mince, which makes it soft and less fatty (Alexanian, personal communication, April 17, 2012).
Features of the Armenian cuisine include a lot of herbs and spices. Armenian cooks use 300 kinds of wild herbs, which are used as very important condiments and can be added to dolma. Popular sharp aromatic spices: pepper, coriander, fenugreek, black pepper, mint, tarragon, basil, thyme, and of course garlic and onions, and for confectionery - cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, saffron and vanilla (Antreassian, 1977).
Dolma contains only healthy ingredients, thus the population is affected favorably. In present time, people start to improvise, substituting lamb to beef mince and adding more tomatoes, onions and greens, thus the modern dolma has no adverse affects on the population, perhaps it is even healthier. Dolma is cooked in the water, without adding any vegetable or animal oils (Uvezian, 1974).
Over the years, the dolma dish has not changed. It is absolutely clear, that this dish incorporates the spirit of Armenians, and it is very important that people are still attached to it through out the many years. Consumption of modern dolma or the old dolma has no negative effects on health, moreover it has a significant effect on the culture, that it is still so strong despite all of the modern obstacles and that people want to keep this culture through the long time (Safarova, personal communications, April 12, 2012).
{фот6.jpg}
http://www.lechaim.ru/ARHIV/195/menu.htm
Through out the history young population absorbed the traditions, culture and values. Therefore, dolma is an old traditional meal that has been passed through one generation to another. Armenian cuisine is very similar to other Eastern European countries cuisine. Although, at the same time it completely different. All these features give to the Armenian cuisine unique taste and make the food unique itself, making it a godsend for any true connoisseur of gourmet and culinary traditions (Petrosian and Underwood, 2006).
Reference list:
Antreassian., A. (1977). Armenian cooking today. Saint Vartan Press.
Karapetyan., E. (2009). The Miracles of Armenian Cuisine. The Baltic Times. Baltic Newa Limited.
Petrosian., I. and Underwood., D. (2006). Armenian Food: Fact, Fiction and Folklore. Yerkir Publishing, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
Retrieved from:
http://books.google.co.nz.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/books?hl=en&lr=&id=0oXYX9Qzx9oC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=Armenian+cuisine&ots=f5Rv8mK5U2&sig=b-duvpyigYDidqdYw5GyyJZC0MY#v=onepage&q=Armenian%20cuisine&f=false
Uvezian., S. (1974). The cuisine of Armenia. Harper and Row, New York. 1st edition.