Portland Press Herald (Maine)
February 10, 2005 Thursday, Final Edition
TASTE OF FOOD AND HISTORY;
A local author’s cookbook preserves the stories and recipes of
Maine’s Armenian immigrants.
by GISELLE GOODMAN Staff Writer
Anthony P. Mezoian is not a chef. He is a historian.
It stands to reason, then, that his new book, “Armenian Baking and
Cooking: From Middle East to Down East, Since 1896,” is more than a
cookbook. It also chronicles the Armenian people of early 1900s
Portland.
“I felt most ethnic groups, most nationalities who settled and
established themselves in Portland, left something, a cultural
center, a church,” he said. “The Armenians have nothing, which is a
shame. If I didn’t write it, nobody is going to remember the
Armenians of Maine. These foods were cooked and created in Armenian
homes in Armenia and along with them are interesting stories.”
Mezoian, of South Portland, is no stranger to Armenian history. This
is his third book on the subject, which is close to his heart.
A first-generation Armenian, Mezoian’s father came to Portland around
1909, fleeing from the 1896 massacres at home (which at the time was
a part of Turkey). Here he found work in a bakery, and Anthony
Mezoian, known as Andy to his friends, was taught how to bake
Armenian breads at a young age.
Perhaps the cookbook stands as a tribute to his father, who had his
special way of making bread, described in detail on Page 19. There
are other recipes, like the one for Armenian cheese bread, for
example, that are coupled with stories of Mezoian’s dad.
But many of the recipes in the 112-page book go beyond dough. There
are meat and grain and vegetable dishes as well as drinks, desserts
and soups. Those, too, are coupled with stories about Mezoian’s
Armenian neighbors, family members and history of their home country.
Mezoian began working on the book nearly 10 years ago. He knew he
wanted to get his father’s bread recipes in print before they were
lost. He also kept a running collection of other recipes from his
mother or grandmother.
There was another drive to put the book together, too. For years
Mezoian searched for an Armenian cookbook that included a recipe for
pagharch, an old-country, slow-cooked bread. He knew how his father
made it, but wondered how other Armenians mixed up the traditional
favorite.
He couldn’t find any recipes.
He researched the origin of the bread, and learned that it probably
came from a particular district in Turkish Armenia called Keghi. But
he wasn’t sure if the pagharch bread was an Armenian or Turkish food.
“Combining academic research with ancestry, my intuitive gut feeling
is that this unique food is surely Armenian,” he writes. “If nothing
else, the recipe for pagharch is now officially recorded and
published as an Armenian food in this cookbook.”
It is one of his favorite Armenian foods. The other is khama. The
recipe is in the book, but probably won’t be the most popular item,
since it is essentially a raw hamburger.
It was this dish, though, that made Mezoian realize that many
cultures make the same sorts of foods, just with different names. In
America, this khama is called steak tartare. The baklava of his
ancestors is similar to the baklava made by Greeks. He also has
recipes for stuffed cabbage, which can also be found on Polish
tables, and stuffed grape leaves.
Mezoian has made everything that is in his cookbook. They are foods
he enjoys eating.
He hopes other people, not just those of Armenian descent, will find
them tasty, too.
“I wrote this for anyone who is interested in sitting down at night,
maybe not deciding to cook, but reading it and saying, ‘Oh, I know
what this is,’ and maybe make it someday,” he said. “Even
non-Armenians are interested in the foods, as they would be in foods
from other nationalities.”
Staff Writer Giselle Goodman can be contacted at 791-6330 or at:
[email protected]
GRAPHIC:
Mezoian’s cookbook includes a recipe for pagharch, a food that
Armenians eat when having a family celebration such as a christening
or reunion.
Staff photo by Gordon Chibroski
Anthony P. Mezoian, author of a new cookbook about Armenian cooking
in Maine, at his home on the Cape Elizabeth-South Portland line.