Takuhi Tovmasyan is another person who comes to mind when speaking of Armenian cuisine. She has published a book called “Sofranız Şen Olsun” (The Happy Dining Table). This book talks about her family’s culinary traditions as well as including her family recipes. She has also done a lot for Armenian cuisine, including her research on “anuşabur” (a sweet soup made for Christmas), and translation of “Mükemmel Yemek Kitabı” (A Perfect Cookbook) a book compiled by  Vaginad Pürad in 1926. The book was written in Turkish using Armenian alphabet and contained 637 recipes. Mrs. Tovmasyan indicates that both in her household and in other Armenian households, the food was eaten to accompany conversation. In order to explain the Istanbul Cuisine and why it was rich in mezes, she explained that conversation is the most important factor during dining. Meze dinners are known to be long dinners, while nibbling on food the diners converse for long hours. Food and dining becomes an excuse to converse.

In Yerevan, an old settlement that has been dug out by archeologists have revealed remains of grapes, hemp, lentils, pea, plum, sesame and wheat. This is an indication that Armenians, have gotten influenced by other cultures that they were colonized by, such as Arabs, Byzantines, İranians, Ottomans and Russians. Although their cuisines have altered throughout the years they were able to keep some of their traditional dishes and culinary cultures. In fact this situation is valid for almost all minority ethnicities.

Mrs. Tovmasyan especially points out the importance of stuffed dishes; such as stuffed mussel, stuffed mackarel, stuffed spleen which are a very important part of Istanbul Armenian cuisine. Below is an excerpt taken from a Scandinavian resarcher’s notes who was researching the ethnic cuisines of Turkey. He explains how shocked he is to see the the preparation of stuffed spleen.

 “The spleen is carefully split, then stuffed with the pre-prepared stuffing mixture. Sewn and then boiled in water. Then the spleens are sliced, dipped in egg batter and flour and deep fried until golden.It was shocking to watch.”

One of the most important indications of a culinary culture is the holiday dishes. Regardless of the religion, the dishes prepared especially for holy days and holidays holds a significance. When the  holiday times come, one would notice the vigourous smell of spices coming from an Armenian household as an indication.  Another important indication was that the whole family including the father and the children would take place in the cooking process and prepare everything together. Therefore the kitchens were always filled with fun times.

As Mr. Halepli mentioned, one of the indispensable things found in a young girl’s dowry chest is topik cloths. This actually has a symbolic meaning. This would be an indication that the girl knows how to make topik and therefore she is ready for marriage. The intense smell of onions caramelizing over slow fire is all owed to topik.

Mr. Sabri Koz and Mr. Turgut Kut are two of the most important scholars who have shown efforts to translate Turkish cookbooks written using Armenian alphabet.  

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Excerpt taken from the interview done with Mr. Sabri Koz:

“Here in front of me you see some cookbooks, written in Turkish using Armenian alphabet. Based on my dear friend Kevork Pamukçuyan and my mentor Turgut Kut, there is no special name given for this kind of writing style, as there is with Karamanlica Turkish (Turkish written with Greek alphabet). 

I would like to first explain to you why I am interested in such books. During my teaching years, I have spent 10 years in an Armenian school located in Feriköy. I have always been interested in the Armenian language and Armenian culture. In 1970’s I was working for Hürriyet Newspaper. My collegue Mr. Mumcuyan has informed me that there were many Turkish documents written with Armenian alphabets and he gave me the necessary documents to study the subject matter.  I had met Mr. Pamukçuyan before I worked at the school in the Armenian Patriarch.  Later on I’ve met Mr. Kut, who has tought me a lot.

I used to work only on sources related to folk culture and literature. However I am also interested in cookbooks. These works are no longer found in antique or second hand bookshops. The photocopies can only be obtained with special requests and permissions from private collections. The Armenian Patriarch has an extensive library however it is not open to the public just yet. In Turkey and in the world there are many works done on Turkish books written with Armenian alphabet. The first bibliography of such books was published in Yerevan in 1985. The expanded version was published about 5-6 years ago by Turgut Kut in Turkish.   

Mr. Kut has also published ‘Açıklamalı Yemek Kitapları Bibliografya’ (Annotated Bibliography of Cookbooks) and included these books in the addendum section. Mr. Kut also published a few articles about Armenian cookbooks. In my works, I use original books and sometimes photocopies of the originals. For example one of the original books that I have is called  ‘Müfta-ül Tabbahin’ which means The Key of the Cooks. As you know the first published Turkish Cookbook is  ‘Melce-üt Tabbahin’ (Cooks’ Sanctuary), published in 1841. The Key of the Cooks was published in parallel to that in 1876. In the bibliographies there is a mention of a book that was published in 1871. However I have with me another small book, which I assume was published in 1860. The cover is missing but the book is original. It starts with a very interesting recipe of stuffed sheep’s stomach. The Anatolian Armenians, created a kitchen based on the ingredients grown within the soil and climate they lived in. Their cuisine was 90% similar to the Muslims living in the same region. The 10% difference can only be explained by religious differences and outside interaction. One interesting factor is that this book was written with a mid-Anatolian Turkish, which means that the person who wrote this was from Anatolia and not from İstanbul.

I also want to mention a script that belonged to the cook of the wealthy and famous Aznavuryan family. This script was also written in Turkish using Armenian alphabet and consists of dessert and cookie recipes.  This script  was given to me by my mentor Artun Ünsal with one condition, that I was to work on it and translate it. There are many other cookbooks written in the same style; ‘Supplementary New Cookbook’ written by Orhan Aşçıyan in 1907 and ‘New Cookbook and Dough Based Dishes’ written in 1889 are to name a couple.”

 *The text is a translated transcription of food culture researcher and journalist Nedim Atilla’s seminar “İstanbul Armenian Cuisine” that was held at TCF-Culinary Arts Center on 16 January 2013.  The seminar also includes interviews done with Mr. Garo Halepli and Mr. Sabri Koz.