PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 686-0710; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
March 16, 2012
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Lenten Cuisine, Orchestrated by a Master Musician
By Florence Avakian
On Tuesday evening, March 13, at the Diocesan Center in New York,
master pianist and ethnomusicologist Sahan Arzruni gave a bravura
performance of different kind, displaying his extraordinary, creative
knowledge of Armenian Lenten cuisine.
>From start to finish, Mr. Arzruni had impeccably executed the
preparations, including the food shopping, the cooking, and
serving. The evening’s unique presentation – a food preparation
exhibition with a witty and informative running narrative – he
performed with his typical exuberant personality.
Diocesan communications director Chris Zakian welcomed the more than
50 attendees who took places at covered tables adorned with several of
the foods that were to be served. “Like all great artists, Sahan’s
creativity extends to all fields, including being an ingenious cook,”
said Mr. Zakian.
With obvious enthusiasm, Mr. Arzruni delved into his subject,
explaining that Armenian fasting traditions involve not only the
six-week Lenten period, but also week-long fasts preceding each of the
dominical feasts (Christmas, Easter, Transfiguration, Assumption, and
Exaltation).
“Growing up in Istanbul, my grandmother, who was very religious,
observed the strict Lenten menus every Wednesday and Friday,” he said,
noting that those weekdays were marked for strict observance by the
church.
In a quest to learn about Armenian Lent customs, Mr. Arzruni
explained, “I learned a great deal from Professor Abraham Terian, from
Fr. Krikor Maksoudian, and Fr. Daniel Findikyan.”
The Original Vegan Diet
Mr. Arzruni said his renewed interest in the Armenian Lenten food
tradition was piqued a few years ago, when a friend recommended he
adopt a “vegan” diet as a sure-fire way to lose weight. “I’ll find my
own way,” a skeptical Arzruni replied at the time; but his eyes were
opened to the creative possibilities of the cuisine at a dinner party
given by famed Armenian composer Edvard Mirzoyan, whose wife had
prepared a surprisingly delicious beet spread. Arzruni decided to
adopt the same principles of Lenten cuisine – the “original vegan
diet,” he called it – to create his own dishes.
The result was on display at the March 13 gathering, where in the
manner of a live “cooking show” Mr. Arzruni showed how he prepared
each item in a diverse and surprisingly contemporary menu, while
expounding on their consonance with the centuries-old Armenian
traditions of Lent.
Lenten cooking in the authentic Armenian tradition tolerates no meat,
fish or dairy, said Mr. Arzruni with emphasis. “The only permitted
ingredients are legumes, vegetables, fruits and grains. And even
though oil is permitted in theory, they didn’t use oil in Armenia,
since there were no olive trees.” He noted that olive oil came into
wider use beginning in the 9th century, in the Armenian kingdom of
Cilicia, where the trees grew in abundance.
Demonstrating before the crowd, he combined beets, walnuts, cilantro,
garlic, sea salt and cider vinegar, which he ground coarsely in a food
processor, and asked the attendees to spread the mixture on
crackers. “I want to taste the texture, so I grind it coarsely,” he
commented, adding that he has created recipes for eight separate
spreads using root vegetables and walnuts.
As the evening continued, what had been billed as a “tasting” turned
out to be a full five-course dinner, replete with a Swiss chard soup
of red onion, celery, turnip, Swiss chard stalks and leaves, and
canned whole tomatoes, served by Mr. Arzruni’s cadre of enthusiastic
volunteers.
This was followed by a ragout of pinto (or cranberry) beans, strewn
with chives, and flavored with garam masala (an Indian spice
combination). Then came quinoa (a relative of beets and spinach which
comes only from Peru, “the most complete protein,” our chef explained)
with sautéed cremini mushrooms, fresh thyme and shallots, all placed
tastefully on the tables with radishes, cucumber slices, and leaves of
romaine lettuce leaves placed in tall vases like a floral centerpiece.
In a nod to the modern pioneers of Armenian cooking technique, Sahan
Arzruni paid tribute to the late Alice Antreassian, whose daughter
Elise Antreassian Bayizian was among the attendees on the evening. For
two generations of Armenian chefs, Alice Antreassian’s cookbook “The
40 Days of Lent” has been the seminal resource for authentic Armenian
Lenten recipes, and it remains a “best-seller” to this day.
At last, the feast was topped off with a delectable dessert of dates
and other dried fruits, almonds, walnuts, and halvah with pistachio
nuts, to be downed with several varieties of herbal teas.
Mr. Arzruni graciously expressed his thanks to a number of people who
had worked behind the scenes to make the event possible, especially
Talin Ipek and Gregory Manuelian. The superbly organized evening came
to a close with a Rest Service in the sanctuary of St. Vartan
Cathedral, led by the cathedral dean, the Rev. Fr. Mardiros Chevian.
Some of the recipes from the evening can be found on Sahan Arzruni’s
website:
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Photos attached.
Photos 1, 3, and 4: Mr. Arzruni speaks with guests at this week’s
event. Photo 2: Mr. Arzruni gives a food preparation demonstration at
the Diocese.
From: Baghdasarian